Circe's Revenge
by AlexCraigWrites
Summary: When Circe finally escapes from Blackbeard and his pirates, she exacts revenge on the two people who destroyed everything for her: Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. But how far will she go? Does she go too far? Rated K because it's like your average PJO book-pure, just canon ships, and a bit of violence. Book 1 of a sequel. COMPLETED.
1. Percy's Dream

**A/N: Hey guys! Welcome to my first fanfic! This is, like I said, my first, so take it easy on me. This story will be completely published by the end of the day. So, enjoy!**

 **WARNING-I don't not own Percy Jackson or anything in this book. That's all uncle Ricks work. Except my OCs and maybe the plot.**

(3rd person pov)

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Percy's alarm clock rang, sounding unusually blaring. He groaned. When Percy finally opened his eyes, he found himself lying face down on his bed. He rolled over onto his back, and tried to sit up, but his back didn't seem to be able to bend that way. His mind snapped out of his early morning fog. His mind started racing in alarm, and his heart was beating far too fast than it should've. When Percy finally looked up, as people seldom tend to do, he saw the top of his bottom bunk except for one glaring difference: the beams were huge, wider than Percy was tall. He groaned in pain, his head was still throbbing from his dream.

He thought back to his nightmare. Percy was screaming, his gut feeling like it was on fire. No. Worse. It felt like someone had threw a jar of Greek Fire down his throat. Finally, the it was too much, and he blacked out from the pain.

When he finally came to, cables the size of humongous bridge cables were wrapped around his torso. The burning pain was gone, replaced with the pain of being squeezed by those huge cables. A voice, an earth-shaking noise, laughed maniacally.

"YOU WON'T GET AWAY FROM ME THIS TIME, PERCY JACKSON!" The thunderous voice boomed. It sounded vaguely familiar, but the sheer volume distorted it, like a voice over a phone call. Percy screamed again, his throat sounding higher pitched and squeakier than before he blacked out. The cables squeezed him tighter, and his head throbbed. Finally, Percy passed out, again, from the lack of oxygen.

Percy's eyes shot back open. The dream seemed vaguely familiar to him, like the voice, but he was positive he never had a dream that vivid or horrible.

He tried to sit up again, but then realized his back wouldn't—couldn't—work that way, and almost screamed in frustration and anger. Percy tried something else, he tried to wiggle his legs to see if someone—or something—had somehow managed to paralyze or shrink him in his sleep. His idea worked too well. When he attempted to move his two legs, something horrible happened, strengthening a terrifying idea clawing into his subconscious. When he attempted to move his legs, his arms moved, too, passing by his limited field of vision. Instead of two human hands—which shouldn't have even moved—passing by his face, two very inhuman, very furry, claws waved by his face. That was the last straw. Percy screamed, but instead of a loud human scream, a loud squeal bounced across the empty cabin.

Percy rolled back on his stomach, feeling violently ill. He tried to walk, or crawl, off his bed to get to the mirror, the one thing that could tell him if his worst fear came true. He continued trying to move but ended up wobbling around. When he finally got to the edge of his bed, he looked over the side. Instead of spending what felt like the last few minutes painfully crawling across his bed, he had spent that time trying to cross his pillow. He tried to curse in frustration, but the only thing that came out was a furious squeal.

Suddenly, an idea came to Percy. He jumped off the small cliff—sorry, pillow—to his mattress below. He looked over the new edge below him, and, fortunately, his clothes were still in a pile on the ground. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his floundering heart. He took a deep breath, and jumped off his mattress and into his pile of clothes.

Percy landed in the fattest part of the clothes, but still, his tiny body burned from landing such a high jump. Percy dragged himself across the huge space between his bed and the mirror in his room. When he, at last, found himself in front of the mirror, he bit back a scream. Instead of a scream, a small shriek erupted from his throat. Standing in front of him, instead of a teenage human boy, was a small, fluffy guinea pig, with long orange and black fur and blue eyes.

 **I'm not sorry about that cliffhanger. The next chapter will be out in about 8 hours.**

 **—Alex**


	2. Hide!

( _Percy's POV_ )

This time, I was less successful in holding back a scream. A louder _REET!_ rang across the room. Instead of a tall, dark-haired human(well, demigod) boy standing in front of the mirror, a rather cute, fluffy guinea pig peeked over the edge of the mirror. Me. My long fur puffed out, orange and black. My eyes, two brilliant(who would've ever thought someone could describe me with the word brilliant) blue ones, flashed everywhere nervously. The earth started shaking. I almost cried, even though I couldn't, not anymore. I couldn't take an earthquake, not now, not here, not like this. I looked down, and I realized the earth wasn't shaking, it was me. Well, my teeth. Gods, I thought. I had four large teeth, the top two sticking out like, well, a guinea pig's.

I was about to have a nervous breakdown when a boy's voice called from outside the door. I flinched visibly at how loud it sounded to me, to my tiny, sensitive ears. "Percy?" The voice called, knocking on the door worriedly. Thank the gods. It was Will Solace, counselor of the Apollo cabin, son of the god of healing. I almost called out to him, then realized I couldn't. "Percy, are you in there? Come on, dude, breakfast started ten minutes ago!" For whatever reason, my relief dissolved, replaced with a deep panic. The only response was scratching on the floor, me, desperate to hide. Will must've heard the noises. His voice took on a panicked tone. "Percy! Percy, if you're in there, I'm coming in!"

I scooted further under the desk I was hiding under, trembling furiously in fear. I mentally kicked myself. Why was I scared? Will's a friend, a healer, who's saved mine and my friends' lives numerous times. Then I realized my newfound guinea pig instincts were kicking in.

The door rumbled as Will opened the door. His voice was laced with panic, his face looking extremely worried. "Percy!" He yelled. I flinched, my rodent instincts determined not to give myself away. "Percy!" I saw him notice my upturned sheets and, to my horror, little brown droppings that looked like poop pellets littering my sheets, blanket, and the space around my mirror. I watched as Will's face turned from worry to pure panic. "Percy!" He yelled again, louder and higher pitched than before, and I couldn't take it. I let out a guinea pig shriek. Will stiffened at the noise. "Percy, if you're in here, I'm going to get Chiron and some help! Just stay where you are!" I wouldn't, just couldn't, reveal myself to the whole camp. I needed to figure this out on my own.

Just as Will turned to run and alert the camp, I scurried out from under my desk and let out a large _REET!_

Will whirled around, not expecting the sudden squeal. He tensed, then saw me on the floor, shivering with fear, my fur fluffing me up to twice my normal size. Well, in this form, anyway. He must've realized he'd scared the fur off my skin, and he relaxed, even though he thought I was still missing.

"Hey, little guy," he coaxed softly, bending down. "I'm Will Solace. I'm sorry I scared you. Will you forgive me?" Will held out his splayed hands, and I climbed on. He brought me up to his shoulder and started trying to calm down the shaking guinea pig in his arms. Then he remembered what he was doing here: looking for me. Will stiffened and nearly dropped me. I squealed in terror, a fall from over five feet onto hard marble would definitely kill me.

 _REET!_ I protested, hooking myself onto Will's Camp Half-Blood shirt. He seemed to remember I was there.

"Oops, sorry there, buddy." He muttered. "I'm actually here looking for my friend, Percy. Have you seen him?"

I tried to nod my head like, yeah, I've seen him. You're holding him right now! But that didn't translate too well into guinea pig gestures.

"Say, what're you doing in here anyways? Never heard of Percy keeping a guinea pig, especially not in his cabin." I sighed mentally. This was gonna need some work.

"Reet?" I questioned, trying to keep him talking while I formulated a plan. Gods, I thought, I've been spending too much time with Annabeth. My tiny heart raced, and my blood turned cold. Annabeth. What had happened to her?

"You say you've seen him, huh?" Will continued. I sighed, exasperated. "Well, let's have a look around." He looked around again, slowly connecting the dots. He saw the poops on the pillow and the mattress, then the scratches on the marble floor, and then the other poops leading to the desk. Realization dawned on his face. "Percy?" Will breathed, looking down at me.

I squealed, relieved that Will finally figured it out. I tried to climb deeper into his shoulder, and he held onto me, not wanting to hurt me again.

"What happened to you, man?" Will breathed. I sighed.

Suddenly, I felt really sleepy, like I hadn't slept all night. But I had slept, even with that terrifying nightmare. I shrugged mentally. It didn't matter that I just slept. Alarm bells were ringing faintly in my pea-sized brain, but I didn't care. I was tired. I wanted to sleep. I needed to sleep. I allowed my eyelids to droop, and drifted off back to sleep.


	3. Oh, no

**Hey, guys! I'm back! I forgot to do A/Ns on the last chapter, so:**

 **Sorry about the wait. I published the first chapter** ** _right_** **I left for school, and it was Friday, so I didn't post till later. Also, sorry for the short chapters, I think they get longer by this chapter or the next. I** ** _should_** **(emphasis on** ** _should)_** **have the next ten-ish chapters out by noon. My time. So basically, an hour and change.**

 **What do you think is next in store for poor Percy? R &R! (Okay it took me awhile to figure out what that meant but I'm 99.99% sure it means read and review)**

 **—Alex**

(Will's POV)

When Percy wasn't at breakfast, Chiron got worried and pulled me to the side. "Will," he'd said, "do you know where Percy is?"

"Percy?" I asked. "No, I haven't seen him. Why? Is he okay?" That first question bugged me. Last time someone couldn't find him, Hera kidnapped him, wiped his memories, and sent him to the camp for the Romans.

Chiron muttered to himself. "Never mind." He'd said finally. "He probably overslept. Go eat your breakfast."

But I didn't. I couldn't eat my breakfast with the question of Percy hanging over my head like a storm cloud. "I'm sorry, guys," I told my siblings, "I've gotta go check on something." Then when I go check on Percy, I find a small little guinea pig and his poop everywhere. I panicked. Then the guinea pig helped me figure out that he was Percy.

I was so lost in thought, the guinea pig—no, Percy, I corrected myself—nestled against me and fell asleep. I sighed and sat on one of the extra beds. There was no shortage of those. I sighed again, taking a deeper breath. One of my best friends was a guinea pig, and I had no idea what to do. Some healer I was.

I needed to tell someone. But then I thought of the way Percy came running out from his hiding place, terrified, when I mentioned alerting Chiron and the camp. It dawned on me that he wanted this between us, and not being scrutinized by his friends. But I had to tell someone. I mean, I couldn't keep this secret all by myself.

I ran my free hand through my hair. I thought of people I could tell, the people close to me and Percy. Nico, my boyfriend, who's life Percy saved many times; the other Six of the Great Prophecy; Annabeth, Percy's girlfriend. Gods. Annabeth. She'd want to know what happened immediately.

I thought back to breakfast. I didn't think I saw her at breakfast, though she could've overslept. I gulped down my fear. She's fine, I thought, she probably just slept late. But I just couldn't convince myself. I took some of Percy's clothes from the floor and padded the bottom of my satchel I used to carry around medical supplies. Because it never hurt to be prepared with a full-fledged first-aid kit.

"Hey, Percy," I gently nudged the sleeping guinea pig from where he lay on my lap. The little animal's head shot up like an arrow from a bow. He tried to get up, then shrieked in frustration. "Hey, man, it's okay. It's all right." I coaxed. I picked him up. He was breathing heavily, and I could feel his tiny heart beating at the speed of a racehorse through my fingers. I held the small form of Percy up to eye level.

"Hey, Percy, I'm sorry I woke you up, but I need you to jump into my satchel here." I patted my satchel. "Is that okay? We're gonna go see Annabeth." I saw his tiny blue eyes flicker with hope. Then fear. "Hey, I'm not gonna tell anyone unless it's okay with you. You just have to lay here and don't make a sound. Is that okay with you, man?" Percy nodded, or what was probably the closest thing to a nod with him. "Okay, here we go," I muttered, and gently lowered him into my bag.

I walked to the door and quickly exited, making a beeline to cabin number six.

When I arrived, I knocked on the door. "Annabeth," I called, "are you in there?" Silence. "Is anyone in there?"

"Will?" A voice called from inside. "Is that you?" It was Malcolm Pace, one of Annabeth's brothers, and her right hand sibling.

"Yeah, it's me, Malcolm. Can I come in?"

Malcolm hesitated. "Yeah, sure." He said. I opened the silvery-grey door and walked into the cabin.

It was all tidy, the only unclean part about it were the beds. They were all unmade, except for one, rumpled and strewn with books. Annabeth's.

Sitting in front of the bunk was Malcolm, cross legged on the floor.

"Hey, have you seen Annabeth?" I asked Malcolm. "I'm here with Percy." I felt Percy shift in my bag.

Malcolm paled. "Is he waiting outside, or….?" He asked.

"About that…No, he's in here." I patted my bag, and saw the last remaining blood in his face drain. I heard a scratching noise coming from the floor. Oh no, oh no, oh gods of Olympus, no. I thought. I heard more scratching, and a head stuck out from behind Malcolm's legs. A small, furry head.

I sat down on the floor, across from Malcolm. I held my hand out. "Hey, Annabeth," I cooed to the small creature, "it's me, Will Solace." The guinea pig squeaked, and scrabbled over her brother's legs towards me. Slowly, without startling Annabeth, I reached into my satchel and pulled out a squirmy Percy. Annabeth let a loud squeal when she saw me holding Percy, and Percy doing the same for her.

Malcolm and I both sighed. I had gone to Annabeth for advice and to warn her, but instead of the big, tough blonde girl, in her place was a small, short-haired guinea pig, with blonde fur and those same stormy grey eyes.

I must've been staring, because Annabeth stopped huddling with Percy to give me a piercing stare—although it was slightly misty, like she wanted to cry—something that didn't leave her along with being a human.

The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. "So, Percy got it too, huh?" Malcolm broke the silence.

"Yeah, you could say he 'got it' if by 'got it', you mean turned into a little fuzz ball."

Malcolm held his hands up in surrender. "Just trying to crack the iceberg, man."

"I'm pretty sure it's 'break the ice', not 'crack the iceberg'." I said.

"Well—" he started, but never got to finish his sentence. Kids were coming back from breakfast. I cursed.

A light bulb went off in my head. "I've got an idea!" I blurted, but the campers' voices were growing louder every second. "Can I take Annabeth with me back to the Poseidon cabin?"

He looked at Annabeth, helpless in my lap. I could tell didn't want to leave her. "I'm coming with you." Malcolm said.

I shook my head. "Malcolm, you should go to your normal activities."

He opened his mouth to protest. "I mean, your cabin's already missing their head counselor, they don't need to be missing you, too." I said reasonably.

Malcolm nodded hesitantly. "But you'll tell me what's happened afterwards, right?"

"Of course," I said. "But don't tell anyone. Not yet." He looked at me suspiciously. "Percy's choice."

Malcolm nodded. "Annabeth's, too. Good luck, Will." He called softly as I slipped out of his cabin.

"You, too, Malcolm." I muttered to the visibly distraught boy as I slipped into the throng of campers.

 **Well, it's not exactly a cliffhange, so yay me! But, Malcolm and Annabeth are involved, too? And Annabeth's a guinea pig, too! I am an evil writer. If you don't think that(yet), just wait for the rest of the story. *smiles evilly***

 **Also, as I've forgotten to mention multiple times, the story is mostly just Malcolm and Will's POV(point of view), with one or two(or three!) Percy chapters and a large chapter for Annabeth.**

 **Just a quick note: if I offend you by saying "Guys" or "dudes" I don't mean that literally. I call all my friends that, girl or guy or anything else. It's just part of the was I speak, and so I've put that mainly on Will. I've tried to make the other characters have different speech patterns, but one or two guys and/or dudes might slip through the cracks. If so, my apologies! Or should I say, Apollogies? *laughs maniacally* Okay, I'm done now. See ya next chapter!**

 **—Alex**


	4. Irida's Decision

**Hey guys, Alex here with a new chapter! Sorry, but I thought I'd be funny to make a YouTuber entrance thingy parody. Sarcastic remarks are pretty much my forté. Although, "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." —Halt, in John Flanagan's series The Ranger's Apprentice. Hmph.**

 **Wow. I got off topic quick this time.**

 **But anyways, welcome to chapter four(?) of my first story—well fanfic, 'cause this definitely ain't my first story—Circe's Revenge! It took me about a month and change to write this whole thing. Yay, me! So, this new character I'm introducing, my OC(I can neither confirm nor deny that she will be a main character), her mortal parent was Hispanic(I don't know where, specifically, yet[bad writer!] but I was thinking Mexico. What do you guys think? Comment your ideas!) and her first language was Spanish, so she tends to say words or phrases in Spanish. The phrases are usually simple, like "what's wrong?" or "camp" but if it's difficult(er) I'll write what it means.**

 **And now I'm rambling.**

 **Back on topic! Enjoy this chapter!**

 **—Alex**

(Still _Will's POV_ )

I scuttled out of the Athena cabin and made my way away from the Athena cabin, and towards Percy's. "Hey, Will," some campers called as I made my way across the camp. I was conflicted. Chiron would want me to tell him, but Percy wanted it to be a secret, and if I told Chiron, he'd have to inform the camp, and worse, Mr. D. But, if I didn't tell Chiron, and he couldn't find Percy or Annabeth, he'd launch a search party, the last thing I needed.

I had to talk to Annabeth and Percy. But I had nowhere to go. Then, I remembered Percy's dad, Poseidon, one of the 'Big Three' gods. Also one of the gods with only one demigod, Percy.

I walked into the Poseidon cabin, and made sure we were alone. I set Annabeth and Percy down on one of the extra beds and sat next to them, my pad and paper in my hands.

"What the Hades happened?" I asked. "One demigod turning into a guinea pig is one thing, but two, you two, is another. Spill." I said. "Do you have any idea who it was?"

Percy shook his head vehemently. Or tried to. He ended up shaking his entire body. Annabeth started chattering her teeth like she was laughing, and I snorted.

"So, no ideas, huh?" I asked. Then I remembered Annabeth telling me about the other time Percy got himself turned into a guinea pig. Only a demigod could say that sentence, I thought. The sorceress was a guy-hating lady somewhere in the Sea of Monsters. But Annabeth said something about Hermes' Multivitamins….I started rummaging through my satchel. There! At the bottom of the bag was a small jar of gummies, with two little Minotaur gummies left. "Guys, would this help?" I asked, and shook the jar. "Hermes' multivitamins."

Annabeth squealed happily. I picked them up and put them on the floor, then popped the lid off the jar. I picked both out, and put it on the floor in front of Annabeth and Percy.

She and Percy approached the gummies eagerly, eager to finally end this nightmare. They bit it at the same time, quickly finishing the magical gummies. I sat on the floor and waited. Annabeth never specified how long it took for these things to work.

A minute passed by. And another. Nothing happened. Annabeth looked up at me, her tiny eyes moist, like she wanted to cry. But couldn't. Percy scooted closer to her, and they huddled together, shaking and their fur fluffed up.

I sighed shakily. It was supposed to work. It should've. It worked before. "I'm sorry, guys." I said. I didn't know what else to say. It was silent for awhile. The sound of campers brought my consciousness back to the present. "Guys, we're gonna have to move. I'll get a lot of questions if I'm found in here, especially talking to two guinea pigs. Hop in." I patted the satchel. I could've sworn Percy grumbled at the thought of satchel-travel again, but he jumped in just the same.

I slipped out of the Poseidon cabin just in time. As I walked away, a girl from the Iris cabin, Irida, walked past me. "Hey, Will!" She called.

"Hey," I muttered back. I was a kid on a mission. Irida must've sensed something was off, and she walked over.

"Hey, Will," she said, "what is up with you? You were not at breakfast, and now you are being weird."

"It's nothing," I muttered. I tried to brush past her and keep walking, but Irida had other ideas.

"Will, _¿qué pasó?_ Do you want me to get Nico, or someone…?" Irida asked, and looked me in the eyes. She was short, a couple inches over five feet, with her literal rainbow-colored hair, black at the roots, braided into one long braid down her back. She looked at me, determination mixed in with her brown eyes. I knew I couldn't get rid of her. I saved her life during the Second Titan war, and now she always tried to help me, whether I needed help or not. I grabbed her arm and dragged her with me.

Irida yelped. "Will!" She whisper-yelled. _"Qué estás haciendo?_ " **(What're you doing?)** She tended to have snatches of Spanish in her speech when she was caught off guard. She stopped in her tracks. "Will, I swear I will shout to this entire campamento if you do not tell me what is going on!" She hissed.

I faltered. Percy and Annabeth trusted my to keep their secret. But one person, versus the entire camp…"Follow me," I said, backtracking to Cabin Three. As we walked in, I closed the door and inspected the cabin. Good. No one had been inside. "Wait here," I said, gesturing to the bathroom. She looked on the verge of rebellion. I looked at her pleadingly. "Please, Irida."

She looked at the bathroom, then at me, pleading with her. "Fine." She said. "But you will explain what is going on when I come out." She said sternly, and locked the door.

I walked to the far edge of the cabin and pulled out Annabeth and Percy. "What do you say, guys?" I asked in a low tone. "Can I tell her?" They looked at each other, and had a silent staring contest. Percy looked desperate not to tell anyone, but Annabeth knew it was the best choice. Percy sighed as Annabeth nodded. I gently placed them back in the satchel.

"Irida!" I said into the door. "You can come out now!" The latch clicked, and Irida came out.

"Who were you talking to?" She asked.

I hesitated. I didn't know how to tell her. "Annabeth." I said finally. "And Percy."

"What? Are they in here?" She said, her voice getting shriller. I cringed. I had to keep the noise down, for Percy and Annabeth's sake. Irida looked around, like they were hiding somewhere. "They were not at breakfast, Will! Chiron is worried!" I gulped.

"Yeah, they're in here." I said, subconsciously laying a hand on my bag. "Come sit down." I gestured to the bed closest to us, and sat down. I explained everything, from Chiron asking me about Percy to bumping into her outside.

" _No entiendo,_ " she breathed. "I do not understand." She looked at me, and finally understood the worry and stress on my face. "Gods, Will, I am really sorry about all of this." She stopped, and looked at my bag. "Are they in there?" She asked, and I nodded. I reached in, and pulled out two guinea pigs, stroking them softly on my lap. "Oh, gods." She rubbed her head. "This is not a dream, right?" She laughed.

I had had enough. She was my friend, but so were Annabeth and Percy. "Look, Irida, you think this is hard? Think about them. They've been through a lot, more than you could even dream of. Three wars, half a dozen life-threatening quests, numerous battles, freaking Tartarus, and now this. So, if you think it's funny, then you might as well leave now. But remember, if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll know it was you." I snapped. She looked shocked for a second, then took on my words.

" _Lo siento._ I am sorry, Will." I looked at her. "I am sorry, guys," she said, looking at my friends. "So, what are we going to do?" She said, sniffing and looking at me.

"We?" I asked.

"Yeah, we. I am going to help you help your friends. And you are not getting rid of me anytime soon."

 **New thing I'm gonna try: word count! So this chapter's was...drumroll please ...1,274! Not my best, but not bad either. Opinions on Irida? So, she and Will have history, eh? Hmmm...Side note: her name means "Iris" in Greek, because I had** ** _zero_** **name ideas. Also, should a make a *short* story about how she met Will, in the middle of the Battle of Manhattan? It'd be fun. There'll be a poll on my profile...if I can figure out how to do it.**

 **Sarcastically yours,**

 **Alex**


	5. Just Stop Right There

**Hey, fellow fanpeople! Welcome to chapter five of Circe's Revenge!**

 **Wow, that didn't sound like a game show** ** _at all_** **.**

 **Here is your very long, exclusive Annabeth chapter! And when I say exclusive, I mean it's the only one in the story. I don't know why I didn't write more from Annabeth's POV or anything from Irida's. I've only written a little of Percy's POV(you'll see why later), and any other POVs seemed unnecessary, as, you know, they're guinea pigs. Though I actually have no idea why I didn't write anything from Irida's POV. All the chapters' POVs had a specific purpose, like Will discovering Percy, Malcolm and Will's scene, etc.**

 **I'm pretty sure this one is, by far(besides the last chapter or two), the longest chapter. Enjoy!**

 **—Alex**

(Annabeth's POV)

I wanted to scream. I wanted to shout. I wanted to cry. But I couldn't. Definitely not now, in this state, and maybe not ever again.

When I heard Will this morning, and heard Percy was with him, I wanted to cry with relief. Then I didn't see Percy with him, not until Will brought him out of his bag.

I'm not proud to say this. I panicked. But so did he. We were there, comforting each other silently, until Will put us back in his bag.

Percy said some unpleasant things about Will's satchel, and then I realized it: I understood him, even though we were both guinea pigs.

In the bag, it felt like it took forever, so me and Percy traded stories. He told me about his dream, and how Will found him, and I wanted to hug him.

 _Percy_ , I nudged him with my head in the bag, _I'm sorry, Seaweed Brain,_ I said, in a futile attempt at a joke.

He shrugged. _It's okay, Wise Girl,_ he said, _at least I've got no cabin mates. What'd they say to you?_

I gulped, but told him all about my crazy experience.

( _3rd person for Annabeth's "flashback"_ )

Annabeth was laying on her bed, reading an architecture book, when the pain started. It was like being stabbed by Ethan Nakamura again, but multiple times, all over her gut and lower back. She grunted in pain, and closed her eyes.

"You all right, Annabeth?" Her half-brother, Malcolm, asked.

She opened her eyes and replied through gritted teeth: "Yeah, I'm good. I'm just feeling a bit stomach sick right now." _That's an understatement,_ she thought as she sat up. "I'm going to the infirmary to see an Apollo kid." She saw the light was beginning to fade, although it was probably an hour before sunset. "Don't wait up if I'm not back before campfire." She added.

"All right, Annabeth." Malcolm said.

Annabeth hobbled out of the cabin, almost doubled over in pain.

As soon as she left her cabin, the pain intensified, feeling like she consumed a jar of Greek Fire. Annabeth collapsed, and she crawled into a little niche in the side of her cabin, and pulled the shutter closed most of the way, showing some of the dying sunlight. She curled up in the niche, crying silently because of the pain, facing away from the setting sun. Now, her whole body felt like it was burning and being crushed. It felt like little knives were trying to work their way out of her fingers and toes, the sharp point first. Her mouth felt like her teeth were trying to run away from her. Her body felt like it would be crushed until it was the size of a marble. Finally, she fell unconscious because of the severe pain, not sure if she'd wake up again.

When she woke up, Annabeth wondered if she was dead. Her head and body felt like someone beat it with a hammer. Wait. Where was she? She sensed massive cave-like walls around her, and it all came back to her. The pain. The niche. The agony. But she didn't remember the niche she crawled into being this big, this _huge_. She tried to sit up, but couldn't. She rolled over like a dog, and nearly screamed at what she saw. The shutter shutting off her little niche from the world wasn't so little anymore, it was easily two, three times the size of her. The opening was less than twice her height tall, and there were feet, humongous feet, traveling by, hurting her ears with the noise they made, presumably their voices.

Annabeth's breaths started coming quicker, her heart pounding faster than a gazelle on the run, faster than any human heart should've—or could've—gone. Annabeth's first instinct was to run to the far corner and wait until all those giant feet left. _Why?_ Annabeth thought. _Why do I want to hide? I should just run out there and...and...no, I should stay here. It's safe. Since when is this cave safer than camp?_ She thought furiously. _Since when am I not safe at camp?_ Suddenly, a conch horn blew thunderously, driving her to the far corner. The she realized what was happening. Nothing had changed around her, _she_ had changed. The giant feet were the campers going to the sing-along. But were they big, or was she tiny?

Finally, the last of the feet left the side of the Athena cabin, and Annabeth made her move. The only way she could figure this out was to make it to her cabin without being seen.

But when she tried to stand up and walk out, she couldn't sit up. Annabeth panicked. She couldn't even get on her knees. Finally, she got on all fours and tried to stand on her feet. Her upper body swung up...and she did it! She was standing! She tried to move one of her feet forward, and fell, face first.

Annabeth yelled furiously, not caring she would alert the other campers. But instead of a yell, a agitated squeak echoed across the cave. _Since when did I squeak?_ She paled. Annabeth looked down. Instead of her lying on her hands and stomach, she was on all fours, all hairy, clawed, fours. She squealed again, this time in pure terror. Timidly, she put one claw in front of another, slowly making her way to her cabin. Thankfully, one of her irresponsible siblings had left the door open just a crack, barely wide enough for her little body to fit through, and the lights on.

 _Holy Hera,_ Annabeth thought as she walked into her cabin. Sure, everything was gigantic for her now, but in her cabin, her _home_ , things looked so different. Everything was multiple times larger than she was tall. She located the mirror on the opposite side of the room, and scrambled over quickly.

When Annabeth looked in the mirror, she squealed, and her stomach dropped to Tartarus. Standing in front of the mirror wasn't a tiny human, or a rabbit, or cat, or anything that she thought she could've possibly turned into. She'd almost prefer that. Instead, a small, short-haired guinea pig sat where Annabeth should have been. The guinea pig had short, monotone blonde fur and stormy grey eyes.

Annabeth spent the next five minutes flopped on the floor in front of the mirror, trying to figure out what to do. It was already dark out, so she couldn't go to Percy or Chiron or the Apollo kids like she told Malcolm she would, not without getting eaten, stepped on, or lost.

Suddenly, Annabeth heard loud voices and footsteps coming in the direction of her cabin. It was the campers, coming back from the campfire. She squeaked, almost inaudibly, and ran under her bed.

The door burst open with all of her siblings, the brand-new camper, Louis, first. "Man, that was lame!" Louis exclaimed.

"Louis…." Malcolm warned him, not for the first time that day. "Be careful about what you yell here." Louis was a big kid, about fifteen years old, with pale skin, and their mother's hair and eyes. Malcolm put a hand on his arm to emphasize his point.

"Hey!" He whirled around, grabbing Malcolm's arm. "Don't touch me!" He growled. Malcolm easily shook his hand out of Louis' grasp.

"Just get ready for bed, Louis," Malcolm sighed.

"And why should I take orders from you?" He nearly shouted. Annabeth flinched visibly, the noise was hurting her, badly.

"Because, I'm Annabeth's second-in-command, when she's not here, I'm in charge." Annabeth could see all of her other Athena cabin mates crowded behind Malcolm.

"Then why isn't _Annie_ _Bell_ here now?" He gloated. Annabeth gritted her guinea pig teeth. "Where is she, off with her boyfriend again?" Malcolm snapped. He shoved him against the cabin wall, his arm across Louis' chest. The other campers crowded behind Malcolm.

"No, _Louis_ ," Malcolm said, purposefully mangling his name, "she is not here right now, but she is cabin counselor, and we respect our counselors, no matter what."

"Then I want to challenge her for head counselor!"

Malcolm laughed sarcastically. "I'd like to see you try. But alas, you see, Louis, like most civilized camps, we have these things called rules. Have you ever heard of them?" Louis' face turned an angry shade of red, but was smart enough to realize the smaller boy was stronger than him, in this scenario. "Rule number one: we _respect_ the counselors. Two: you _listen_ to the counselors. Three: the cabins need to be clean for inspection every night. Four: the oldest or most senior camper is automatically counselor. But, if a younger camper has completed more quests than the current counselor, he or she can challenge the counselor to a duel. The counselor can choose to step down, or fight. And Annabeth has completed over a half a dozen quests, nearly dying each time. You're not eligible to challenge her, not for a long time, if you even get one quest." Malcolm took his arm off the opposing boy's chest and shoved him towards his bunk. "Now go clean your bed." No one cheered. No one laughed. Malcolm wasn't making the big boy a laughingstock, but he was putting him in his place.

Annabeth's eyes watered. For a chunk of her life, no one would do that for her. Now, she had two families, and they'd protect her.

Annabeth watched as her siblings started to clean the cabin. "Should I clean Annabeth's, Malcolm?" Someone called. She was surprised to realize it was Louis.

Malcolm laughed. "Nah, Louis, that's okay. That's actually rule five: _do not_ mess with Annabeth's stuff if you don't like visiting the infirmary." The cabin laughed, including Louis. "But I'll just check the surrounding area, since it's my bunk, too." Annabeth paled. He was going to check her hiding spot. She almost scooted deeper into the bed, then stopped. _If I can't trust my right hand man, my brother, then I can't trust anyone,_ she thought. She stayed there, stood her ground.

Annabeth heard a loud _THUMP!_ , her brother's knee hitting the ground. She started shaking uncontrollably. Her brother's humongous face came into view. She saw Malcolm's face, still grinning, his smile melting, like an ice cream cone in an oven, as he registered the guinea pig under the bed, and Annabeth's strange absence from that night. She saw him register the terrified guinea pig under the bed, and he sat up so quickly he banged his head on the bed frame.

"You alright, Malcolm?" Louis called.

Malcolm bent back down and looked at me. "Yeah, yeah, I'm all good, it's nothing." He rambled. I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. "It's lights out. Get some sleep, everyone." He surreptitiously slid a loose shirt under the bed.

I curled up on the mound of shirt, and fell asleep right as the lights flickered out.

( _Back to Annabeth's POV_ )

 _Holy Hera,_ Percy squeaked, _Annabeth, I—I don't know what to say. So, I..I'm sorry, I guess._

I huddled back up with him. _It's okay, Percy._ I squeaked. _I'm sorry we had to go through this at all. Do you want to tell anyone else, besides Will and Malcolm?_

He shrunk down a bit further. _Annabeth, I just don't think I can. Just...the embarrassment, the 'oh look the kid who's supposed to save Olympus multiple times is a guinea pig!' that kinda stuff._

 _Okay._ I squeaked. _It's only a need-to-know kinda thing._

We were so lost in thought, we never noticed reentering Percy's cabin, nor the giant hands that reached down and grabbed us by our midsections. Percy and I squeaked.

"What do you say, guys?" Will's voice said, as if we knew what he was talking about. "Can I tell her?" Percy shrunk into the bed. His worst fear was threatening to come true. He stared at me, and I returned it. I didn't know who Will was talking about, but Will needed us to trust someone.

Percy sighed. I nodded. Will grabbed us by the scruffs of our necks, and placed us back in the bag.

Will called someone, Irida, maybe, and I sighed. Irida was an Iris camper whose life Will saved in the war two years ago. Anyone could tell the girl had a crush on Will, though he obviously didn't return it. I heard footsteps and muffled voices. Shrill voices. Will's hand grabbed us again. In front of us was indeed Irida, and she looked on the verge of a mental breakdown. Then she laughed softly, rubbing her temples.

I burned with rage so badly, I quaked. I was a guinea pig, along with Percy, and this incompetent girl had the nerve to laugh at it. I could feel Will's body go taut with anger. I felt Will's hand pet me, trying to calm me down, but he snapped, too. "Look, Irida, you think this is hard? Think about them. They've been through a lot, more than you could even dream of. Four wars, over half a dozen life-threatening quests, numerous battles, freaking Tartarus, and now this. So, if you think it's funny, then you might as well leave now. But remember, if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll know it was you." I stopped quaking, and moved closer into Will. Even with all of this, he still tried to protect his friends.

Irida paled. She said she was sorry, but she was staying with us till the very end.

 **2,243 words. Go, me!**

 **How'd y'all like this one? Seems we've learned a little bit more about Irida...*grins evilly***

 **Also, a word about Louis: in my head, his name is pronounced "Louie", so when Malcolm "mangled his name" he said "Louis", so...well, it's not like we'll see him again, not in this book, but I felt like clarifying that in case you were lost.**

 **Also, I put in that little piece of Annabeth "fluff", as they call it, because I realized it was getting very dramatic. Actually, I just wanted to see if I could make my readers sad. Or cry.**

 **Did I succeed?**

 **Also, most of the writing, rereading, and editing is done late at night when I'm supposed to be asleep, or early in the morning, because my schedule is weird, and those are really the only times I can write. So, I'm sorry and please excuse me for any errors. I'm trying to reread them here, as well, but some things may slip through the cracks.**

 **See ya next time on Circe's Revenge! *bows***

 **—Alex**


	6. Not You, Too!

**Welcome to chapter six, friends!**

 **The poll regarding the Will and Irida story should be on my profile. Emphasis on** ** _should._** **I published it, so wherever it goes when I do that, it's there.**

 **I haven't done this since chapter one, I think, but if my story has not made this abundantly clear:**

 **I am not Rick Riordan. I do not own anything you recognize. I only own this plot, Irida, Louis, and the SS Rainbow. Oops. You weren't supposed to hear that last one.**

 **Anyways, enjoy the story! Keep reading and please review!**

 **—Alex**

( _Malcolm's POV_ )

I knew something was wrong the minute Annabeth looked in pain. She always tried to hide her pain, especially after the war last year. But this time, she actually _chose_ to go see a healer. Then she wasn't at the sing along, or at the cabin after the fact. But when I looked under the bed, Annabeth the guinea pig was not what I expected to see. I slid one of her T-shirts under the bed for her, and laid down for a restless sleep.

"Hey, Louis, I'm not coming to breakfast today." I told him in the morning, with dark circles under my eyes. "I'm not feeling too good. Can you lead them to the mess hall?"

"What? Malcolm, you feeling alright?" He asked, concerned. After I had that talk with him last light, he came up to me and thanked me. Said he'd have gotten hurt if I didn't tell him what's what.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm just not feeling too good. I might also check on Annabeth. Go on to breakfast."

"Okay, Malcolm, if you say so. Guys!" He shouted the last bit to the cabin. "Let's go to breakfast!"

As soon as he and the last of my siblings left the cabin, I sat facing mine and Annabeth's bunk bed. "Hey, Annabeth, they're all gone now. You can come out." I called softly. Nothing. I froze. Had she moved overnight? If she went outside after dark, surely a harpy or some other monster would've eaten her. I laid, face down, on the floor and stuck my head under the bed. I breathed a great sigh of relief. She was just sound asleep on her shirt. I tried to pull the shirt towards me. Horrible idea. As soon as she felt the shirt move, Annabeth bolted up in alarm. I quickly pulled the shirt out the rest of the way. I picked my sister up and held her against my chest. I could feel her breathing heavily, her heart pounding at a pace that _could not_ be normal for a guinea pig.

"Hey, Annabeth," I said softly, petting her to calm her down, "it's just me, Malcolm. Your brother. Everyone else has gone to breakfast. Just thought you might wanna have a chat." She looked at me helplessly. I finally got my first, clear look at Annabeth. My sister was a small blonde guinea pig with short hair—well, fur now—and strikingly grey eyes, a symbol of our mother.

I felt her heart and breaths start to slow down, not at a human level, but those most likely acceptable for a small prey animal. "So, what happened, Annabeth?" I asked her while softly stroking her.

She gave me her best "if I knew we wouldn't be here" stare.

"Do you want to talk to someone?" I asked. "Chiron, or Percy…?" Her head shot up at the sound of Percy's name. Although it wasn't his name that triggered it, it was the sound of footsteps leading up to the door.

"Annabeth, are you in there?" A boy's voice called while knocking on the door. Will Solace.

"Annabeth, get between my legs. Just till we know what's going on." I breathed.

"Is anyone in there?" Will called again, knocking harder.

I looked at Annabeth. He was coming in anyways. "Will? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Malcolm, it's me. Can I come in?"

I bit my lip. "Yeah, sure." I said.

Will opened the silvery-grey door and walked into the cabin.

"Hey, have you seen Annabeth?" Will asked me. "I'm here with Percy." I saw his bag shift infinitesimally.

I paled. "Is he waiting outside, or….?"

"About that…No, he's in here." He patted his bag, and I felt the last remaining blood in my face drain. I heard a scratching noise coming from the floor. I heard more scratching, and a head stuck out from behind my legs.

Will sat down on the floor, across from me, like he'd done something like this before. That worried me most. _Why in the world has Will done this before? A camper turned into a guinea pig. This is not normal, even for demigods._ I thought. Will held his hand out. "Hey, Annabeth," He cooed to my big sister, "it's me, Will Solace." Annabeth squeaked, and scrambled over my legs towards Will.

Slowly, Will reached into his bag and pulled out a squirmy Percy. Annabeth let a loud squeal when she saw him holding Percy, and Percy doing the same for her.

I groaned. _Mom, why them?_ I thought. _Why me? Why is this happening?_ I heard Will sigh. I had a sinking feeling that we were both going to ask Annabeth and Percy for advice. But guinea pigs can't give advice. Only receive it.

The tension was thick enough to cut with a sword. "So, Percy got it too, huh?" I tried to break the silence.

"Yeah, you could say he 'got it' if by 'got it', you mean turned into a little fuzz ball." Will snapped.

I held my hands up in surrender. "Just trying to crack the iceberg, man." This seemed much harder to break than just ice. Hence the iceberg.

"I'm pretty sure it's 'break the ice', not 'crack the iceberg'." Will retorted.

This is gonna get bad. I thought. We're both stressed out. Will's really high strung right now.

"Well—" I started, trying to pacify Will, but I never got to finish my sentence.

We heard voices outside, and we cursed. Kids were walking back to their cabins from breakfast.

"I've got an idea!" Will said, but the campers' voices were growing louder every second. "Can I take Annabeth with me back to the Poseidon cabin?" Will asked me.

I looked at Annabeth, helpless in Will's lap. I didn't want to leave her, but if Will could help…"I'm coming with you." I said.

Will shook his head. "Malcolm, you should go to your normal activities."

I opened my mouth to protest. I didn't want to leave my older sister alone, especially now. "I mean, your cabin's already missing their head counselor, they don't need to be missing you, too." Will said. Always the voice of reason. I thought. Even to the goddess of wisdom's children.

I nodded. "But you'll tell me what's happened afterwards, right?"

"Of course," Will said. "But don't tell anyone. Not yet." I looked at Will suspiciously. "Percy's choice."

I nodded. "Annabeth's, too. Good luck, Will." I called softly as the blond boy slipped out of the cabin.

"You, too, Malcolm." Will muttered as he slipped into the throng of campers.

 **1,197. Not bad. Sorry it took me awhile to upload this one. I had to clean my bunny's cage before I could proofread. Man, that tiny fuzz ball can poop...**

 **Back on topic!**

 **Malcolm got a POV! Are you guys happy? Also, Malcolm is Malcolm Pace, and he shows up a couple times throughout PJO and maybe once or twice in HoO. He is Annabeth's brother, and he's her right hand man/second in command. I've written him as her (not much)younger brother, because he's her second in command, and not vice versa...**

 **Holy Hera's cows, I did not think it would take this long to proofread, write my A/Ns, and publish! Well, I also had to eat lunch with my family, but still...**

 **Despite the delays, please countinue reading and please review!**

 **—Alex**


	7. The Prophecy

**Welcome back to Circe's Revenge, chapter seven! (I think)**

 **The action is really throughout the story, but this, in my opinion, is when it really begins.**

 **Also, one thing I didn't think of before: one more acronym I may need to explain is OC. I'm pretty sure it just means original character, my own creation.**

 **I don't think I have anything else to get of track about—wait, yes I do. If Will seems excessively short tempered throughout the story, it's just the way I wrote him subconsciously. Now, I realized it might not exactly fit Will's personality. But, I guess I wrote him that way because I see a lot of headcannons and stuff about Will being distraught about not being able to save one of his patients(and I think there may or may not been something like that in tLO[the last Olympian] or BoO[blood of Olympus]). Plus, this is just my logic, doctors/nurses/etc are what they are to save people, and if they can't, then that makes sense, right? So I have a belief that if Will saw his friends like this, and couldn't help them, he'd be short tempered, right?**

 **That's just my long-winded opinion. I'll let you guys read now.**

 **Wow, that got** ** _way_** **off topic.**

 **Keep reading and please review!**

 **—Alex**

( _Malcolm's POV_ )

"Malcolm!" A voice dragged me back to the present. " _Malcolm!_ " My head snapped up. I was in Monster Training class, and everyone was staring. Chiron, who was teaching the class and the was calling my name, looked concerned. I rarely zoned out, especially in this class.

"I'm so sorry, Chiron. I was just really deep in thought." I said, stealing a glance at the chalkboard. We were learning about Manticores. "I mean, Manticores are really dangerous." Chiron looked at me like he didn't believe me, but he dropped it.

The entire class went by like a snail. That is, to say, slow.

Half an hour later, Chiron dismissed us. Though it had felt like hours.

"Malcolm," Chiron said, "please stay so we can talk." Some Ares kids snickered, and I shot them with a glare.

I walked up to Chiron. "What is it, Chiron?" I asked lightly and innocently.

"Are you feeling okay today, Malcolm? You've been restless all class. This isn't like you." He got me there. I did love learning about monsters. But I was worried about Annabeth. I decided to tell the truth. Well, part of it.

"I'm worried about Annabeth, sir." I said hesitantly.

"Annabeth? Why, what's happened to her?" Chiron said, and stepped closer.

I took a deep breath, and thought quickly. "I think she may have been kidnapped, Chiron."

"What?" Chiron said. "Why in Hades would you think that?"

"She went to the infirmary last night and never came back." Chiron's thoughts must've gone the same way mine had, because as soon as I finished, Chiron swung me on his back.

"To the Oracle!" He said, and galloped towards the Big House.

Thankfully, Rachel was in her cave when we arrived.

"Rachel!" Chiron called and let himself in, with me still on his back.

She appeared in front of us. "What's up, Chiron?" She asked easily.

"Malcolm needs a prophecy. Annabeth and Percy have been kidnapped." Chiron said.

"Kidnapped? By who? When? Where?" She stopped and grabbed Chiron's arm. "Why?"

"We don't know. I just know Malcolm needs a prophecy." With that, he slid me off his back and galloped out of the cave.

I picked up her stool and put it next to her. "Rachel, how do I reverse the curse on Percy and Annabeth?" She looked at me like she didn't expect that question. She probably didn't. She opened her mouth to say something, but instead, green smoke billowed out of her mouth, her eyes a neon green.

The Oracle's voice rasped,

"You shall go south, into the monsters' den,

You shall retrace the steps of heroes then,

To release the children of Wisdom and the Sea from their curse.

The injury of one shall result in another's curse.

And by the next full moon, when the sun sets,

Olympus's heroes shall remain as pets." And with the final verse, she crumpled into her wooden stool.

I rushed forward and grabbed her, almost missing because I was thinking about my new prophecy. My first one, too.

Rachel lifted her head groggily. "Malcolm," she muttered, "what did you mean by 'reverse the curse on Percy and Annabeth'? Are they alright? Besides being kidnapped, of course. Why didn't you ask where to find them?" She looked up at me, and I wanted to tell her. I mean, Percy and Annabeth were—are—her oldest friends.

But, just then, Will Solace came running in.

"Rachel!" He called between breaths. "I need—" he saw me holding up Rachel, and walked up next to us. "Malcolm, what did you do?"

I stared at him. "Will, I didn't do anything! Let me explain." I glanced back at Rachel. "But not here." The bigger boy glared at me, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

"Will! Malcolm! What's this—?" Rachel called, but was cut off by her heavy curtain door.

"Will, what the Hades was that?" I whisper-yelled at him.

"You got a prophecy without me, without them!" He patted his satchel.

"It wasn't my choice!" I growled back. "Chiron talked to me after my last class, and I told him the truth. Well, part of it."

"You what?" He growled, his eyes flashing with anger. His face was red. Campers on the bottom of the hill were watching us.

"Will, come on. People are staring. Let's go to the Poseidon cabin or something." Will's eyes were flashing with fury. I gave him a hopeful, lopsided grin. "You can shout at me in there."

As soon as he turned to drag me away, Rachel walked up behind us, apparently recovered from her latest Oracle mugging. "What in Hades did you do?" Rachel shouted at us. All the anger drained from Will's face, along with the blood, too.

"Rachel, I—" Will started, but Rachel held up her hand.

"Save it, doc." Will stopped. Because, even as a mortal, Rachel could be terrifying if she wanted to. "Just tell me what the Hades you did, and what happened to my friends." She stopped, and looked at me. "And you, Malcolm, are gonna tell me what prophecy I spewed out back there."

 **Only 851 words. Hmm. I'll try to make it up to you guys.**

 **But ooh, a prophecy! Which means a quest...Do you guys think they told Rachel? Whay do you think will happen next?**

 **I think I'm gonna do a "next time on..." kinda thing. Sounds fun. Plus, it'll keep my faithful readers on your toes.**

 **I have nothing else to say. Wow, that's a first.**

 **Keep reading and please review!**

 **—Alex**

 **Next time on Circe's Revenge:**

 **"Enough!" Piper yelled, probably with a bit of charmspeak in her voice. "Stop fighting, guys! Please!"**


	8. Double Oops

**This is an A/N chapter. Usually, I hate it when other authors do this, especially if they have scheduled times when the post, because it's usually them saying they're taking some time off, discontinuing stories, blah blah blah. But I'm not doing that. I already finished the story on google docs, so there'd be absolutely _zero_ reason why I'd do any of the above things. **

**Wow, I got off track quickly.**

 **Anyways, this is just me saying that I forgot to tell you when this story takes place. That's also one thing I hate: not knowing when a story takes place.**  
 **This story takes place after MCGA(Magnus Chase and The Gods of Asgard[if you haven't read it, you need to] but not during TOA(the trials of Apollo) because those books aren't finished, and I don't know enough about them yet to write with them confidently. Sorry for this PSA, and keep on reading**

 **—Alex**

 **P.S. I thought this was a good place to explain that I'm explaining every acronym because when I started, I was so confused on what A/N (authors note) meant and all that jazz. So I thought I'd explain it to you peeps.**  
 **Once again, see ya next time!**

 **P.P.S. I had to delete then repost this because it did some funky thing and it looked like the computer commands were _inserted_ into this authors note. It was really weird.**

 **P.P.P.S. Gods, I need to stop doing this. The final chapters may be up by tonight. See ya, my faithful readers!**


	9. The Quest

**Hey, my faithful readers! I'm alive! Not that you would think that, anyway. I know, I know, I said the story would be out by last weekend. But publishing my chapters takes awhile, because I have to(Well no but I love writing these) write these authors notes, and proof read—these chapters aren't exactly short, are they?—, and all that Jazz, and it takes a good half an hour or more. These are all copy and pasted cuz I write them on google docs, and some stuff doesn't transfer well...but I wanted to publish this for my faithful(hopefully) readers. Speaking of faithful readers! I was gonna do this earlier but the website wouldn't lemme look...Back on topic! Thanks to my first (*cough cough* and only *cough cough*) favorite and follow on this story, dbf09!**

 **I'll stop ranting now and let you guys read.**

 **Toodles!**

 **—Alex**

( _Will's POV_ )

" _You shall go south, into the monsters' den,_

 _You shall retrace the steps of heroes then._

 _To release the children of Wisdom and the Sea from their curse._

 _The injury of one shall result in another's curse._ "

Malcolm sighed as he finished reciting his prophecy, and I shivered.

"I mean, Percy's told me about him and all of his monster curses, but releasing _them_ from _their_ curse? Do they both have the same curse? Is that even possible?" Jason Grace, counselor and sole camper of the Zeus cabin, questioned. The rest of the counselors around the ping pong table nodded. Chiron had called a meeting of all the counselors—and the Oracle—to discuss Percy and Annabeth's disappearance and the prophecy.

Malcolm, Rachel, and I locked eyes. We were the only ones present who knew the prophecy was incomplete. And what most of it meant.

"Well, let's try to figure the rest of it out," Piper McLean, Jason's girlfriend, also the counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, said as she squeezed his hand, "I mean, what about the first line? "The monsters' _"_ den. You don't think the Oracle meant The Sea of Monsters, do you?" She looked at Rachel, as if she knew.

"Hey, like I tell you guys _every single_ time, I don't give the prophecies. The spirit of Delphi mugs me to release them." Rachel defended herself. The Stoll brothers snickered, and after Rachel shot them a glare, they quickly shut up.

"Well, what else could it mean?" Leo Valdez cut in. "'Cause if you only went on a dangerous quest to a single monster's den, it wouldn't be dangerous, would it?" The counselor counsel muttered in agreement.

"And what about the " _You shall retrace the steps of heroes then"_ line? You don't think it means Clarisse, Annabeth, and Percy's quest for the Golden Fleece?" Connor Stoll said.

"Yeah, because getting blown up on a ship seems so amazing." Travis, Connor's brother, cut in.

"That's not what I meant, and you—" Connor got into his older brother's face.

"Boys!" Chiron said exasperatedly. "This is an official meeting, not one of your pranks!"

"Sorry, Chiron," they muttered, as Katie Gardner glared daggers at them.

"We've got more important things to worry about. What about the whole ' _the injury of one shall result in the curse of another'_? Last time something like that happened, Gaea was summoned with a nosebleed. Like, oops, you stub your toe, and someone gets cursed. Again. Like we're not all already cursed enough." She stated, looking at the gathered campers, and they all nodded again like an obedient kindergarten class.

"On that happy note, have you chosen your quest members yet, Malcolm?" Nico asked from right beside me.

Malcolm nodded. We'd talked about it earlier with Irida and Rachel. "I want to take Will and Irida, if they'll have me."

I nodded immediately. "Yeah, I'm with you, Malcolm." I said. Nico looked at us like we weren't speaking English.

"So, you're taking two powerful campers and that one girl from the Iris cabin?" Leo pointed out.

I balled my fists. "She _is_ a powerful half-blood, Leo." I said between clenched teeth. Just because Irida didn't save the camp or whatever, people just thought of her as another camper. "She's the daughter of another half-blood and a goddess."

"Oh right, the one that ignored the warfare going on all around them and ignored it?" He retorted.

"I don't seem to remember you there the first time either, Valdez." I snapped at him.

His face turned a deep red. "Solace, you _know_ that that time was different."

"Well, you weren't watching over a dozen of your friends die, did you?" I growled back at him. We were leaning across from each other on the ping pong table. Leo started towards me and I did, too. It took both Nico and Jason to hold us back.

"Enough!" Piper yelled, probably with a bit of charmspeak in her voice. "Stop fighting, you two! Jeesh!"

Leo and I both stopped. We looked down at our shoes. "Sorry, guys." We said in unison.

"I guess we're just stressed," Leo muttered. "Our friends are missing."

 _Oh gods._ I thought. I'd forgotten about Percy and Annabeth, laying in my bag. "I'm gonna go take a walk." I muttered.

"Will!" Chiron shouted as I walked out. "What about the quest?"

"Malcolm can tell me about it later, right?" I yelled over my shoulder, and I saw the other boy nod. It wasn't like he was going to tell me a lot I didn't already know.

"Will!" A boy's voice shouted after me. "Will!" A hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me around. "Will, what is going on with you today?" It was Nico, my boyfriend.

I shrugged off his hand. "It's nothing, Nico, leave me alone."

He looked shocked. "Will—"

I interrupted him. "Just go back to the meeting, Nico. They may need you."

"But they need you, too!" He pleaded.

"Nico—" I started. "Just please. Please let me be."

He looked hurt, but turned to leave anyway.

When Nico was finally in the meeting place, I ran all the way to the Poseidon cabin, clutching my bag against my chest.

As soon I stumbled in and closed the door, Irida was upon me.

"Will!" She cried. "Why are you back so early?" She stopped and have me a once-over, looking at my red face and eyes. "What did you do, Will?" She asked, her hands on her hips.

My nose grew uncomfortably warmer. "Leo Valdez and I may or may not have almost gotten into a fight." I mumbled to my now-interesting shoes.

Irida groaned. She registered my omnipresent satchel. "Oh gods, are they okay?" She murmured softly, just quiet enough so our friends couldn't hear.

"They—well, I hope—are fine. I think. I hope." I muttered as I rushed to the nearest bunk.

I grabbed my friends by the scruffs of their necks—maybe a bit too rough—and plopped them on my bed. "Are you guys okay?" I asked worriedly. Percy grumbled, like he just woke up from a nap, and Annabeth was rubbing her face with her paws like she was trying to clean it. Or maybe she was trying to hide her face. I decided the latter was most likely true. Little did I know.

Percy nodded anyway, and curled up back to sleep. Annabeth continued rubbing her face with her paws.

Irida and I sighed with relief. "So, what happened at the counselor meeting, Will?" She asked. I told her everything, while calmingly stroking the demigods'(or demi-pets? Were they still partly godly?) backs.

 **1,145. Hmm. Also, I said this was gonna be out by Saturday, then Sunday, and now I've learned my lesson. It's all gonna be out by Friday, I promise.**

 **Totally random side note—like everything I write in these things—I said toodles because I can, but mostly because I grew up with a lot of British kids(not in Britain) so some chapters I will write like the Californian I am, and some chapters I'll sound British or something else...**

 **Also I'm a very strange child so that's also part of it. Probably.**

 **Random topic time over! See you next chapter!**

 **—Alex**

 **Next time on Circe's Revenge:**

 **"She..." I forced it out. "She was kidnapped."**


	10. Circe

**Hello my dudes! I am truly sorry if Percy's POV makes you tired. I wrote it at 12 am on a week day, and edited at 2 am on a Thursday night, so it was probably my thought processes at that point...and right now...*yawn* But I thought my amazing readers should have this chapter by Friday. Also, if Irida's idiolect(I think that's what it's called—in layman's terms, her speech patterns) seems choppy, that's kinda what I was going for. Kudos to my friends in elementary school(of whom I corrected** ** _constantly_** **) for the inspiration. Oh, alright and she also might be inspired by Ziva(extra kudos if know her[she's a tv character]) as well. Ooh, expect some failed idioms in the sequel!**

 **Where was I going with this?**

 **I dunno. Hmph.**

 **But also, I would really love a review—just one!—telling me either if my story sucks and why or if it's good and why. I'll even welcome flames and/or roasts at this point! It's the ninth chapter, friends!**

 **Enjoy(or absolutely loathe it, idk) this chapter!**

 **—Alex**

( _Percy's POV_ )

I was tired. Sooo tired. Why couldn't Will leave me be? And stop that horrible shouting. I just needed to nap. But why? The little sane part of my brain asked, alarm bells ringing in my subconscious like a far-off train. Demigod dreams seemed like a thing of the past. I might as well sleep…

( _Malcolm's POV_ )

I quickly slipped through the Poseidon cabin's door, checking to make sure no one on the outside saw me go in. I looked around, and saw Will and Irida on the bed, petting Percy and Annabeth while talking. Will was the first to notice me, as he was facing the door.

"Hey, Malcolm!" He called softly, but it wasn't enough. The sleeping Percy on his lap flinched and shot up like a rocket. Will immediately brought the furry creature up to his chest to calm him.

I sat down next to him. "Hey, Will." I whispered. "You feeling better?"

He smiled. "Yeah, I'm good, thanks. Sorry, I just forgot my friends were in my bag during the meeting and I panicked. And Leo insulted my friend." He whispered back. Suddenly, his face twisted in concern. "Is Leo okay, though?"

"He's fine. He had his friends there." Suddenly, Irida's face squeezed into the space between our heads and shoulders.

She looked at Will. "What am I, chopped liver?" She whispered to him sarcastically.

"Sorry, Irida," he muttered.

"Now that that is settled," she whispered, "what is the quest going to look like?"

"When I was there," Will said, "all we decided was that we were gonna retrace Percy and Annabeth's Golden Fleece quest through the Sea of Monsters. No new development there. But—"

"Hello!" Irida interrupted. "I was not here over three years ago. What is this Golden Carpet quest?"

"Fleece." Will and I said in unison.

"It's the thing that keeps this camp alive." I said. "You know, the one on Thalia's Tree that Peleus guards." Her eyes widened.

"That was their quest?" She asked under her breath. Will nodded while I shook my head.

"Well, technically, it was _Clarisse's_ quest that they kinda jumped in on." I added, and Will almost shrugged, then remembered the guinea pig on his shoulder.

"So anyway," I said, "they went to Luke's old boat, almost died, again, then Virginia, and then they hitched a ride with Clarisse, when the ship blew up next to Scylla and Charybdis, and then they got blown to C.C's Spa and Resort." I paused to let it sink in. Yeah, no, it was for dramatic effect. "C.C. Also known as Circe, the immortal sorceress of magic." Will sucked in a breath. He didn't realize it till now, I guess. "Most likely the very same sorceress that cursed our friends."

"I still do not know what is going on!" Irida hissed in our ears. I sighed. She really needs to work on her monster knowledge. I thought.

"At the 'spa'," I began, "they were pampered and stuff. Annabeth got the full beauty treatment and tour, while Percy…" I trailed off. Percy had told Annabeth what happened, and Annabeth told me, but that wasn't a part of his quest he was really that proud of.

"Hey, Malcolm!" Will whisper-shouted at me, which wasn't really necessary. "Earth to Malcolm!" He waved his free hand in my face.

I cleared my throat. "Sorry." I muttered. Irida waved her hand to continue. I decided to omit that one part. "Percy, he got charmspeaked into drinking this potion by Circe. It turned him into a guinea pig, along with the other guys who had the bad luck of landing there."

Irida looked from me to Percy to Annabeth, and their sleeping forms on her and Will's shoulders. "But, not Annabeth?"

"No." I said. "Circe tried to hire her, and when she tried to protect Percy, Circe tried to turn her into a shrew or something. She countered it some of Hermes' Multivitamins, which she also used to turn Percy, and, consequently, Blackbeard and his pirates."

"That is great!" She said a bit too loudly. "Why have we not already tried those?" She asked quizzically.

Will looked down at the ground. "I—I tried. I had some in my satchel, but they didn't work." He focused on scratching Percy's ears. "I-I think Circe did something different this time, something more—" he stopped to make sure his friends wouldn't hear. "Permanent." He mouthed.

"But the prophecy said we have until the next full moon!" Irida whispered urgently, mirroring my thoughts.

"That's tomorrow, Irida." I said gently.

"Oh." She said quietly.

Will still looked unsettled, but he dropped it. "That's enough 'bout that. When do we leave?"

"After lunch." I decided. Then I checked my watch. "So, in about an hour. Go pack your stuff." I looked around at the mess in here. "And I'll clean up 'round here."

It took almost the entire time to clean up Percy's cabin. Then I went back to my cabin and packed my questing bag. Louis and the others walked in right before I finished cleaning up Annabeth's bunk.

"Hey, Malcolm," He called. "Where'd you go? We were looking for you at the camp activities."

I looked up at the sound of his voice. "Oh, sorry." I said. "Got a little caught up here." My voice was a little hoarse, I hadn't used it for over half an hour. I cleared my throat.

Louis must've sensed something off. "May I?" He asked the cabin.

Our siblings vacated the cabin. Louis sat next to me. "I thought you advised us not to touch Annabeth's stuff?" He joked. I said nothing. "What's up, Malcolm?" He asked.

"It's Annabeth," I said finally.

"Annabeth?" He repeated, suddenly alarmed. "Is she alright?"

 _Not exactly…_ I thought. "I don't know. Chiron's gonna make an announcement at lunch."

"Did something happen?" Louis asked, his eyes still as wide as our mother's sacred animal.

"She…" I forced it out. "She was kidnapped."

"Annabeth? Kidnapped? You mean Annabeth, one of the heroes of Olympus? Who would—or could—kidnap her?"

"I don't know, Louis. But there's a lot of people—monsters and humanoids alike—that'd just love to kidnap any of us. The more experienced a camper, the more enemies you've got."

"Oh gods, Malcolm, I'm sorry. That's your sister we're talking about." I smiled inwardly. A day and a half at camp, and he already talks like a camper.

"She's your sister, too, man." I gently reminded him. "But, Louis," I said.

"Yeah, Malcolm?"

"I'm leading a quest to find them. Me, Will, and Irida. Take care of our siblings for me while I'm gone."

"I will, Malcolm." He looked like he wanted to say something else, but just then, a conch horn blew across the camp.

 **1,122. This kinda seems like the average word count for my story. I think I'll try to work on it for the sequel—if I write that. I seem to have _immense_ trouble with schedules...or staying on topic...or athletics...**

 **Okay, and I admit, _maybe_ Irida's more influenced by the TV character I was talking about earlier. For you interested parties: She's from the show NCIS, season three onwards, I believe. And yes, I am a _huge_ crime show nerd. **

**Also, for those who like the disclaimers(though I don't know why you would): I do not own the Riordanverse! Or the Ranger's Apprentice quote from the first chapter(kudos if you found it[or even know the series])! Or the NCIS character Ziva! I only own Louis, Irida, the SS Rainbow, and the plot(if I'm lucky)! If I owned anything you recognized, the I wouldn't be writing bad fanfics about it! I would try to make money off of it...**

 **Honestly, does anyone even _like_** **this story? I've gotten nothing about this story(besides the follow+favorite from dbf09[might've spelt that wrong. Sorry!]). This is not me saying I'm discontinuing the story, it's already written, and I write this for the fans of PJO.**

 **I need to stop ranting now.**

 ** _Please_ , keep reading and review!**

 **—Alex**

 **Next time on Circe's Revenge:**

 **"Oh alright, leave me up here, alone, on our way to the Bermuda Triangle!" She called after us. " _¡Muy brillante!_ "**


	11. The SS Rainbow

**Okay, I know I said it'd be out, blah blah blah. But it's not, cuz I, as I said earlier, am horrible with schedules. And other things, too, but mostly schedules. I'm not making anymore false promises. So, here I go: I'm gonna _try_ to update a couple times a week, probably about every other day, so if you get a bonus chapter spawned from my boredom, then that's a pleasant unexpected surprise! I may be inconsistent this week because I have state testing! Yippee! It's basically sitting at a computer for three friggen hours answering questions about English one day, math another, etc. And it goes on for the entire week! It's basically MAP testing, if you know what that is. **

**Back on topic.**

 **Thanks a bunch to my first review from the guest! It might've made my night, and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.**

 **But wow! When I checked on the story this morning, it had 2-300 views and one follow/favorite, and 12 hours later, something happened and I got 3/4 more follows/favorites and a review! What in the world happened? I have something to say: this is the first story I've written that was read by people who aren't related to me, so if I seem unsure...**

 **Keep reading and review!**

 **—Alex**

( _Will's POV_ )

" _The death of one shall result in another's curse._ " Malcolm finished his prophecy, for what seemed like the millionth time today. The mess hall was completely silent. I wished someone would say something, anything.

After an extremely long silence, Chiron spoke up. "And a few other announcements: we have a capture the flag game tomorrow, and the Hunters are staying here for awhile." A collective groan was heard across the hall. "I know, I know, but it's only for a week or two. Just try not provoke them too much, okay?"

The rest of the meal was uneventful. We ate, we sacrificed some food, we talked. I snuck some food in my bag for Annabeth and Percy.

After lunch, Malcolm, Irida, and I made our way back to our cabins. I grabbed my questing bag and my bow and arrows.

I ran all the way to the hill. Will and Irida were already there, standing next to Thalia's tree, looking out at the camp. Argus was there, too, holding the shiny Camp Half-Blood van keys.

"Did ya grab everything?" Malcolm asked me when I reached them on the hill.

I shot him a withering glare. "You know what, if you start bleeding out from a monster attack, you'll be glad I brought my medical supplies, Pace."

Irida snickered. Argus grunted and loaded our stuff into the van.

Finally, we were on the road. The scenery passed us by, from forest to countryside until we were in the city.

At last, after a few hours, we crossed over a bridge into Manhattan. He dropped us at the the pier in upper bay. It was clear that we had to find our own way to the Sea of Monsters.

"Now what do we do, Malcolm?" I asked, turning to him.

"Leave that to me, boys." Irida said confidently, and knelt at the edge of the dock. She started muttering a prayer. "Ω Ίρις, θεά του ουράνιου τόξου, παρακαλούμε να μας δώσετε κάποια μεταφορά." _**(Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please give us some transportation.)**_

Suddenly, a multicolored boat appeared on the horizon, quickly moving towards us.

"Nice boat," I muttered, and Irida punched me in the arm.

"Shut up," she muttered back.

The boat tied itself to the docks, everything moving on its own. The boat was actually like a yacht, with cabins below deck and a little cabin that appeared to house some kind of armory sat above deck. The sails seemed to be made out of tie-dyed shirts, and each plank was a different color.

Malcolm coughed. "How're we supposed to sneak up on anything with the SS Rainbow over here blasting our presence to any ship within a mile of this thing?"

" _The SS Rainbow_ ," murmured Irida, "I like it!"

Malcolm sighed as I started laughing. "Well, let's board her!" I said, once I recovered from my laughing fit. "Time's a wastin'!"

We climbed on deck and looked around. There were four nice cabins below deck—each with rainbow color scheme, of course—with a bathroom in each, a small kitchen, fully stocked with food, and a place where you could fire cannonballs from.

Above decks, there was just the sail and ropes, and the armory. The armory was a closet sized structure with weapons, a lot of weapons. There were arrows either celestial bronze tips, celestial bronze swords, daggers, spears, and every other weapon you could think of. Shields and armor lined the walls, in every shape and size.

"Woah," Malcolm and I breathed as we walked in.

"Boys and their toys," muttered Irida. "Come on, you two."

We dumped our stuff in our cabins and walked upstairs.

"You got any idea how to drive this thing?" I asked her.

"Some," she replied, staring at the steering wheel. "Untie the ropes!" She yelled suddenly. I thought she meant me and Malcolm, but suddenly—and fortunately—the ropes unraveled from the docks.

"Woah," Malcolm breathed next to me.

"Set our course to Circe's Island!" She yelled, and the yacht responded to her command. The boat lurched, and we were on our way.

"I'm out," Malcolm and I said in unison. His face was a pale color, and I wanted to let Percy and Annabeth roam around the cabin.

"Oh alright, leave me up here, alone, on our way to the Bermuda Triangle!" She called after us. " _¡Muy brillante!_ "

Malcolm rushed to his bathroom, as I did to my room, and shut the door. I sat on my floor and opened my satchel, and got a horrible smell. "Gods, what is that?" I muttered, and pulled out Annabeth and Percy. They looked absolutely mortified, although I had no idea why. I set them down gently on my floor, and looked in my bag. Inside the bag, littered on the spare clothes I put down as a liner, were tiny little poop droppings, as well as a splotch of pee.

I finally understood why the little guinea pigs looked so mortified. "Oh, I'm so sorry, guys. I should've taken you out earlier." I took out the soiled clothes and laid them out on the floor. "You can go to the bathroom here, if you want." I pulled out two bowls and a bag of lettuce. I filled the first bowl with lettuce and filled the other with water from the bathroom. Percy and Annabeth drank the water eagerly.

I sat there and watched them skitter around for a while, listening to the waves crash against the boat. From my little window, I could see the moon. Sometime, while I was hanging out in my cabin, the sun had gone down. I sighed, and laid down on my bed for sleep.

 **945! Not my longest, but not the worst. Eh. I'm pretty sure the next next chapter is longer than normal, and there's non stop action for the next few chapters.**

 **Wow, I've got nothing else to say. That's a first.**

 **I'll have the next chap out tonight.**

 **Thank you, my readers, for reading my story.**

 **—Alex**

 **Next time on Circe's Revenge:**

 **Unfortunately, that's when the nightmares found me.**


	12. The Nightmare

**Hello my readers! Since this chapter and the last one are pretty small, I decided to publish two tonight. This is a short one, but pretty darned important. Also, I'm posting an extra because, for some reason, it really boosted my spirits at the response I got in just one day. Maybe I'm making a big deal about it, but eh. Appreciate the little things, right?**

 **Also, I'm pretty sure it's a prerequisite for writers to enjoy watching their readers suffer(* _cough_ *Rick* _cough_ *) through the characters. Hey Ma, I'm a natural at that!**

 **Good luck, readers.**

 **—Alex**

( _Malcolm's POV_ )

I admit it. I get seasick fairly easily. Not the best idea to lead a quest into the Sea of Monsters, but what could one demigod do? Also, I would've felt bad about leaving Irida up there, but I was going to throw up, and Will had to tend to our friends.

After I threw up my lunch and breakfast of the day, I curled up in my bed and fell asleep.

Unfortunately, that's when the nightmares found me.

" _So this is the boy who thinks he's going to save his sister,_ " a voice echoed across the cavern that I found my dream-self in. I couldn't see the speaker, I could only hear the voice, echoing across the cavern. " _Oh, and the other boy, too. The one who ruined it all. I am going to take special joy in turning you into a rodent, little boy. I'll turn you into a rat, maybe, and let you loose on the city you call home. Or maybe sell you to a pet shop. You'll fetch a nice price._ " I wanted to run, to shout that we'll save Percy and Annabeth, but I couldn't move or speak. The voice laughed in the darkness. " _And your other friends_?" She taunted, laughing cruelly. " _For the boy, I'll turn him into a nice little cat. Seems appropriate. Small, cunning. But the girl. Oh, the girl. I won't even try to recruit her. She'll make a nice little bird. I'll lock her and her friend in a room together. They won't at first, but soon the boy's animal side will come out, and his little friend will be lunch. For your sister, she'll make a nice, big fish. But don't worry. I'll release her. At least, into the nice little pond where the fisherman like to fish. And the boy. That boy. He will be a nice little rabbit. A little rodent, learning what it's like being held captive, with the only thing keeping him alive is a small child, feeding him and playing with him. A small rodent, with everything to fear, and nothing to fear him. But I'll give them a special twist. In fact, I already have._ " I was shaking, burning with rage. The lady was really starting to make me mad. Suddenly, a shadow lengthened, and a lady stepped out of the shadows. She might've been beautiful once, but now her face was full of hatred, and her hair was short and choppy, like she had a haircut similar to a man's, and then grew it out.

"Circe," I somehow breathed, though I couldn't say—or do—anything else.

" _That's right, little_ hero," she said, putting as much venom in the word as she could. " _Also, enjoy the guardians. They're my main source of income, after all._ " The nightmare faded, and I sat up, drenched in a nervous sweat.

When I looked out the little pothole window, I saw the sun beginning to rise. _Irida,_ I thought, _she must've been up there all night!_

I walked quickly up the steps, two at a time. The sunrise was beautiful, the pink and orange and blue melding together like an Easter egg.

"Irida!" I called softly. She was watching the sunrise.

She turned around at the sound of my voice. "Hey, it is sleeping beauty." She called teasingly.

I made a childish face at her. "Did you sleep at all last night?" I asked.

She gestured to a pile of blankets and pillows on the deck. "I kind of figured the boat would guide us there on its own. Plus if it needed me, I was right here." She stopped, as if the boat was talking to her. Coincidentally, a sporadic rumbling noise came from below deck. "Ah, the Rainbow says we are nearing the Clashing Rocks."

"The Clashing Rocks?" I said incredulously. "Of the three entrances, you picked the one that was gonna smash us to little bite-sized pieces."

"Well, Scylla and Charybdis were not any better. I would rather not be eaten before my thirteenth birthday." She deadpanned. I stared at her. I'd forgotten that she was only twelve.

Suddenly, looming on the horizon were two boulders. Big, tall cliffs a couple dozen yards apart. "We're screwed," I muttered.

 **705 words. Definitely not my best. The next one, oh man, that was fun to write. I don't know if there should be sarcasm there or nah...**

 **All I can say is good luck to our poor characters.**

 **—Alex**

* * *

 **Next time on Circe's Revenge:**

 **"Row, row, row!" I faintly heard Irida yell through the deck.**


	13. The Clashing Rocks

**Hey friends! Alex here! Wow, this makes it what, three chapters today? Go, me! Sorry for any verb tense agreement mistakes—for some reason, when I wrote this, my brain was thinking in present, not past, tense. Funky. I tried to catch all of 'em, but if I missed one, I'm terribly sorry.**

 **On with the story!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **—Alex**

( _Malcolm's POV_ )

I ran below decks to warn Will. I took the stairs two at a time. Unthinkingly, I barged in without a second thought. "Will!" I called. "We need you above—oh." Will was half-asleep, sitting up in his bed. Percy and Annabeth were on the floor next to the bed. Emphasis on _were_. They shot up onto their feet, panting heavily.

"Malcolm—" he started, then noticed the terrified guinea pigs on the floor. "Man, what did you do?" He asked, then sat on the floor next to our friends.

"I-I'm sorry," I said, nearly panicking. I was still terrified from my dream. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah." he said, still grumbling from being woken up. "Just calm Annabeth down, alright? It's not good for them to be in this state a lot, or for a long time."

"Yeah, yeah, of course." I slid down next to him, and gently grabbed Annabeth. "Sorry, Will," I said after a bit, "I just needed to tell you something."

"What?" He said, suddenly alert. "What is it?"

"We're nearing the entrance to the Sea of Monsters." I said finally.

Will shook his head. "Ah, geez. What entrance did Irida choose?"

"Why do you think Irida chose the entrance?" I muttered, but he just waved for me to go on. "The Clashing Rocks," I said finally.

"Good." Was all he said. "I don't like being eaten. I've heard it hurts."

I glared at him. "Just get your butt upstairs," I grumbled, and set Annabeth on the ground.

When I got upstairs, the Clashing Rocks towered over us. "Any idea how to get through?" I asked Irida.

"Somewhat. It is not the greatest idea, though." She replied, her gaze locked on the cliffs.

"What is it?" I asked nervously.

Irida looked at me. "Oh, ye of little faith. I plan on throwing a fish or something through the cliffs, and when they smash together, bang! One of you boys below deck will fire a cannon ball or two at the rocks, blowing a hole big enough for the Rainbow to sail through."

"I hate to be the devil's advocate here, but don't we have to catch a fish first?" I said hesitantly.

"I said _or something_. A shield or a frisbee would probably work, too. Now, go fetch!" she said, waving towards the armory.

"You go fetch," I grumbled, but went to grab a shield anyways. I looked until I found the perfect one. "Hey, Irida," I called jokingly, "catch!" I threw the disc at her. She caught it awkwardly.

Just then, Will came rushing on deck. "What do you want me to do?" He asked.

Irida and I looked at each other. "You throw the shield into the rocks when Irida tells you, okay? I'm going to be shooting the cannons below." He looked skeptical as to what was going on, but he grabbed the shield.

I raced below deck to the cannons. I grabbed one of humongous cannonballs on the rack. They were huge celestial bronze balls, with something sloshing around inside. Grunting, I carry it to the cannon and load.

I felt the boat come to a shuddering stop, and I heard a loud boom in the distance. I looked through the cannon window, and I saw the two cliffs smashed together. I aimed and fired the cannon. I saw the bronze ball streak through the sky, and blow a ship-sized hole in the rocks.

"Row, row, row!" I heard Irida yell faintly through the deck.

I felt the boat lurch forward. When I peeked out the window, the rocks ahead were slowly pulling apart. The ship pulled through the cliffs, the grey towering over our multicolored yacht. The rocks rumbled, and started to close in. This was it. The moment where the Fates decided if we lived or died. I screwed my eyes shut. The rocks smashed shut with a large _THUMP_. A few seconds passed. I wasn't smashed or drowning, so I guessed I wasn't dead. I let out a yoop of joy. I heard laughter coming from the deck above.

"Malcolm!" I heard a voice call from above. "It worked!"

I dashed up the stairs, two at a time. Will have me a high five, and Irida gave me a hug. I could almost hear Will smirking behind me, and I hoped I wasn't blushing as hard as I felt. When Irida released me, I gave Will a withering glare.

"So, uh, where do we go next?" I asked our little questing crew.

"Circe's Island," Irida said, like the answer was obvious.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, yeah, but _where_? Which way?"

Irida thought about it. "Rainbow, give me a map of the Sea of Monsters." She called finally.

Will and I snickered. "You think that's actually—" Will started, but was cut off by a map falling on his head. "Ow."

Irida and I burst out laughing. "You were saying?" She said smugly, and picked up the map.

"Where'd you learn how to do that?" I asked her.

"I don't really know. I just asked Rainbow for a blanket and pillow last night, jokingly, and a pillow and blanket plopped on my head." She said, shrugging.

"Hmm." I said. "So, what's on the map?" I continued, looking over Irida's shoulder.

"Hey, wait for me!" Will called, and looked over Irida's other shoulder.

"Let's see...there's the Clashing Rocks, so we must be here…" she said, pointing to a place on the map. "Scylla and Charybdis...there!" She said suddenly. "Circe's Island."

"How do we know that isn't the old one?" Will pipped up.

"Because here," Irida said confidently, "here is C.C's Spa and Resort. That is Circe's old lair. Rainbow," she called suddenly, "is this map up to date?"

A series of rumbles came from below deck. "Morse code?" I said. "Really?"

Irida shushed me. "Uhuh. Huh. Hmm. Wow. Okay, thank you, Rainbow."

"What'd the ship say?" Will asked, his head still on Irida's shoulder.

" _Rainbow_ says that the map was just printed." Irida snapped.

Will held his hands up in surrender. "We should be there by the afternoon," Irida continued, like nothing happened. "Rainbow, what's our estimated time of arrival for Circe's Island? Uhuh….Okay….Thank you, Rainbow."

"What'd she say?" Will asked.

"We will be there at about 8:20, at night, their time."

"Well, when does the sun set?" I asked, quizzically.

"Oh, let me see, I totally know when the sun sets in a random place at a random time in a mythological sea!" Irida retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I am not your human Siri! Geez! If you want something, ask Rainbow yourself! I'll interpret the Morse code for you lazy bums."

Will and I held up our hands in surrender. "We're sorry, Irida. We only thought the boat—Rainbow, sorry—responded to you." I said, quite reasonably. "You're the captain, after all."

She seemed to like that idea. "Just ask Rainbow your question," she sighed.

"Hey, Rainbow," Will called out, "when does the sun set in the Sea of Monsters?" The usual response came, in the form of rumbling below deck.

"Irida?" I prompted.

"Nine o'clock is when the sun drops below the horizon."

"That only gives us an hour to defeat an immortal sorceress who's been turning men to guinea pigs since before we were born!" Will exclaimed. "How're we gonna do that?"

We stared at him, and Irida opened her mouth to respond. "Well—"

"It was rhetorical!" He said quickly.

"What do we do now?" I asked, before Irida could murder Will for interrupting her. She hates being interrupted.

She looked at me evilly. "Well, we are going to need breakfast soon. If you boys don't have anything better to do, I suggest you start on that."

 **1,300! Much better than the last two!**

 **Have I mentioned I love Irida? Besides the fact I created her.**

 **I'm too tired to write anything else.**

 **Bye, friends!**

 **—Alex**

* * *

 **Next time on Circe's Revenge:**

 **"Percy?" He said, almost hesitantly. "Are you—do you feel alright?"**


	14. The Smile

**Hey fanpeople! Wow, four chapters in one night! I feel special!**

 **Argh! This is short too! Well, at least it's a very,** ** _very_** **important chapter.**

 **Let's just cut to the chase so you can watch me torture poor Percy.**

 **Happy reading!**

 **—Alex**

( _Will's POV_ )

I opted out of cooking. Instead, I was taking care of Annabeth and Percy. We all had our jobs. Irida was the captain. I was the caregiver. And Malcolm was the cook.

I was just lounging around, watching Percy and Annabeth skitter around the cabin, when a bell rang out. Breakfast. I licked my lips. "Hey, guys, it's breakfast time." I told my friends. They looked up at the sound of my voice.

I bent down to pick them up, but Annabeth skittered away, and Percy did, too, after a moment's hesitation. My eyebrows screwed together in confusion. "What're you guys doing? It's breakfast. You know, food. You've got to eat." I sat down on the floor to make them more comfortable.

( _Percy's POV_ )

I was just playing around with Annabeth when the the door slammed and the boy came back. He just sat around on the bed, doing random things. But after an even louder noise, the boy sat up rather quickly. He said it was breakfast time. He bent down over us, his large shape looming over our little ones. His hand reached down, and Annabeth skittered away. I hesitated, though. The boy looked familiar, and he acted around us like he knew us. Knew us from before...before...that's weird. For a second, it felt like there was something before this. I scrambled away anyway.

The boy looked so confused. He was saying something, something about playing, and breakfast, and food. I suddenly realized how hungry I was.

I scooted a little closer to the boy. He smiled, and a flash of memory hit me.

The blond boy was in front of me, clasping my shoulder and smiling reassuringly, even though it wasn't working.

I remembered that Circe had cursed me and Annabeth to be guinea pigs.

More memories hit me like a tsunami. Stabbing the Fury Alecto, eating blue cookies in my kitchen with my mom, my first quest with Grover and Annabeth, the Battle of the Labyrinth, the Battle of Manhattan, meeting Poseidon, sitting with Annabeth, the Roman camp, the Battle for Rome, and the Quest of the Seven. My thoughts cleared. I was Percy Jackson, the sole son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson, former praetor of New Rome, counselor of the Poseidon cabin, Savior of Olympus.

Suddenly, my senses dulled, but I felt stronger. I felt my limbs being stretched. I was filled with joy, I might've somehow reversed the curse. I could feel Will's eyes on me, though I supposed that was normal. Suddenly, as soon as it started, everything stopped. I opened my eyes, and I was lying in a heap on the floor. Will was standing over me, looking extremely worried and confused at the same time.

"Percy?" He said, almost hesitantly. "Are you—do you feel alright?" I didn't understand why he was acting that way. I jumped up and hugged him. "Per—"

"Thank you," I whispered, my throat too raw to do much else. "You helped me, helped with everything."

I felt his face grow hot above me. Then I realized: he was taller than me. I'm usually about two inches taller than him. I let go of Will.

"Wha—what happened?" I said finally. My voice sounded higher than usual.

Will cleared his throat and pointed to the bathroom.

Unsteadily, I hobbled into the bathroom. When I looked in the mirror, I looked around to see who else was in the room. But there was no one.

In the mirror, instead of me, was a teenage girl with tan skin, long, jet black hair, and sea green eyes the size of marbles. She was average sized, about 5'4", and she was wearing an oversized Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and large pajama pants, the same thing I wore to bed two nights ago.

I screamed. The girl in the mirror was me, still cursed by Circe.

 **642\. Gosh darn it.**

 **I left you guys a cliffhanger. *smirks* It was too hard to resist. Authors, am I right?**

 **But poor Percy, man. He's got no end to his suffering. Or should I say, _her_ suffering? *laughs maniacally***

 **Also, for you metric peeps, 5'4" means 5 feet 4 inches, which is about 1.6 meters. I used to use metric in elementary, but then I moved back to America...That was just a breeding ground for confusion...Just saying, my sympathy goes out to you metric/nonmetric confused peeps.**

 **Okay, I'm done now. I hope you liked it!**

 **—Alex**

* * *

 **Next time on Circe's Revenge:**

 **A loud wail broke through the night.**


	15. The Island of Circe

**Hey, readers! I'm back with the second-to-last chapter of Circe's Revenge!**

 **I was going to post this tomorrow, but people had to post The Burning Maze spoilers, and I got so ticked I couldn't sleep. Well, I guess it works out for you guys, eh?**

 **I'm too tired and mad to write anything else.**

 **Goodnight, fellow fan people.**

 **—Alex**

( _Malcolm's POV_ )

Irida and I were sitting at the table in the kitchen, talking and waiting for Will to come.

Then we heard a very loud, very feminine scream come from the direction of Will's room.

Irida and I sat up, shoving our chairs to the floor. Irida was the only girl here. Well, besides Annabeth, but she was a guinea pig.

We both started to the door, but Irida stopped me. "What if it is a trap?" She warned me. "I will go, and if I need you, I will shout. Deal?" I nodded. Her plan made sense.

She dashed out of the kitchen. I just sat there, waiting. Horrible for a demigod with ADHD. I was about to chase after her when Irida, Will, and a girl I'd never seen before walked in. But she looked vaguely familiar...

"Will—?" I began, but the blond boy held up his hand.

The girl was blushing, and Will took notice. "Why don't you go get some food?" He asked her gently, placing his hand on her shoulder. She just nodded slightly.

Irida went with her, and they started what looked like an awkward conversation.

When the girls were out earshot, Will turned to me. "You may want to sit down, Malcolm." He said.

"Will, what's going on?" I asked nervously. He just motioned for me to sit.

"That—" he began, but he stopped and cleared his throat. "That's not any girl, Malcolm." I stared at him intently, waiting for him to go on. "That—it's Percy."

"What do you mean, 'it's Percy'?" I whispered to him urgently. "Currently, Percy's a—oh. Oh, no." I remembered my dream. But I'll give them a special twist. In fact, I already have. "How did he—she turn back to normal?"

Will blushed. "Me, apparently. I don't really know. She said I smiled at her, and a bunch of memories came flooding back. Then she just—" he stopped, and his face paled. "Annabeth! Oh gods, I forgot about Annabeth!" We both sat up so quick our chairs hit the floor.

Percy and Irida whipped their heads around at the noise. Percy looked absolutely panicked, but Irida was giving us her signature "what did you do this time" look. Then she noticed the the terrified girl next to her, and she comforted her.

"Sorry," I said quietly, but Will dragged me to his cabin.

We opened the door to Will's cabin. We found Annabeth inside, shaking violently. I rushed over to her, and was even more worried when she didn't even flinch. She was so wrapped up in whatever she felt she didn't even get scared of me.

I picked her up and held her against me. "Oh, Annabeth, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I should've came and got you immediately, but with Percy, and everything, I forgot about you." I could see Will wince. No one wants to hear that they were forgotten. But Annabeth squeaked as if to say "it's okay".

Will and I started walking back to the kitchen, albeit slowly.

"So, what happened with Percy?" I asked Will as we closed the door.

"Like I said, I don't really know. I heard your kitchen bell, but when I tried to pick up Percy and Annabeth, Annabeth ran away, and Percy did, too, after like a second. Then I told them it was breakfast, and Percy started towards me. I smiled, I guess, then Percy closed his eyes, and he turned into a girl." Will finished. We then both ran into the kitchen door. Annabeth squeaked in protest.

"Sorry, Annabeth," I muttered. I was about to open the door when Irida pulled it open.

"Idiots," she murmured, just loud enough for us to hear, "I'm questing with idiots."

"Hey!" Will protested.

I opened my mouth to add to Will's protest, but I was cut off by a voice from inside the kitchen. "Irida?" The voice was unfamiliar, and then I realized it was Percy. "Everything alright out there?"

Irida scowled at us, but turned her head to respond. "Everything is all good. Just the boys being boys."

I heard her laugh inside. Irida motioned for us to come in.

We ate breakfast in relative silence. Percy was wearing what was most likely some of Irida's extra clothes, and she wolfed down the food in front of her. I smiled, it seemed she hadn't lost her appetite. She saw me and blushed.

I saw Will check his watch, and then clear his throat. "Just saying, we're gonna arrive at Circe's Island in about ten hours."

Percy dropped her fork. "No!" We stared at her. "No, I'm not going there. Not again."

The three of us exchanged a look. Percy was more shaken up than we originally thought.

Percy started petting Annabeth, who was sitting contentedly on her lap.

"Look, Percy," Irida said, "we're just trying help you."

"We don't need to go to that horrible place to do that." She said adamantly.

"That may be true, but what about Annabeth? This could be her only chance." I said gently.

That did it for her. "Fine. But one thing," she said. "Why is this boat colored like a rainbow?"

Will and I started laughing. Hard. "It was a serious question!" Percy defended herself.

"Well…" Irida continued to tell the story of the SS Rainbow.

"Wow." Percy laughed. "I love Iris."

"Why?" Irida asked curiously.

"She saved my life one time, during my quest with the Romans. She has this weird little organic food store thing, I forget what it's called, near the Bay Area."

"Huh." Irida said. "Well, that is my mother for you."

"Mmhmm," Percy agreed, her mouth full of pancakes.

"What do we do for the next ten hours?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Irida said.

"I mean, four demigods on a boat for ten plus hours is a bad idea. Plus, you know, we're in the Sea of Monsters." I said.

"You mean, you're bored already." Percy said.

"And you aren't?" I retorted.

She shrugged. "Nope. But I've only been here, what, an hour? Less?"

"So, anyway," Irida cut in. "I'm going to go steer the boat. Malcolm, you will do chores until you need to make lunch, because you are probably the only competent chef here. And Will, you are going to be on monster watch with Percy. Alright?" We all nodded. "Good. Now hop to it!"

I spent the next hour and a half doing the one chore of the boat—cleaning up breakfast and the kitchen—when I had to start making lunch.

Then, the afternoon slugged by, with Will, Percy, and I alternating on watching and fighting the monsters attacking our boat. We fended off some Stymphalian birds, various sea monsters, and some crazed seagulls who thought we were attackable.

"Hey, Percy," I said, sitting down next to her after fighting off some more crazed seagulls. The rainbow color of the boat seemed to anger them.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"What'd you do with Annabeth after lunch?"

"I left her below to be safe. You know, crazed birds would love a good guinea pig."

"You have experience with that, too, Percy?" I joked.

"No," she said defensively, "I have a friend named Carter. He's a part-time falcon."

I gaped at her, and she laughed. "You're not kidding, huh?"

"Nope." She said, cheerfully. "He's an—" she stopped herself, like she almost said something she shouldn't. "—a, uh, child of Hecate. Learned to do some weird magic."

"I don't know him," I said, thinking of all the Hecate children. Plus, something was up with her. She stopped herself when she said "an".

"He lives at Camp Jupiter," she said quickly. Too quickly. But I decided to drop it.

"Oh." Was all I said. Just then, a flock of Stymphalian birds came at us. "Percy!" I called a warning, and we both jumped up to fight the birds.

"Darn birds," she muttered, but hopped up anyway.

Hours passed. Dinner passed. More hours passed. The sun started to set.

"Guys?" Percy asked unsteadily. "Didn't your prophecy say me and Annabeth only have til sundown?"

"Yeah—oh, crap. Don't worry about it. The sun shouldn't set completely for at least another hour."

Percy let out a breath. "Okay. So, we have a little over an hour to find and convince an evil immortal sorceress to turn the two kids who destroyed her home—for a good reason—back to normal, even though she cursed them in the first place. Great. Just great."

"Actually," Irida cut in from the steering platform, "we're here."

A huge island cut through the ominous fog. It looked like a large, formerly luxury spa, but it'd been nearly annihilated. Burnt rubble was strewn across the island.

"No, no, no!" Percy said, rubbing her temples. "You said we weren't coming here!"

A large, partially burnt sign hung crookedly on a piece of rubble. It read: "C.C.'s Spa and Resort".

Percy slumped on the deck. She was breathing heavily. "Will!" I called. "Help!"

Will dashed over. He held Percy's face in his hands. "Look at me, Percy. Look at me. Breathe. It's fake. All fake. Just a remake. Nothing bad will happen to you here." Percy's chest was still heaving. "Percy, look at me, man. You just gotta breathe. Breathe." Percy's breaths slowed down.

"One thing," she breathed, holding up a finger.

"What?" Will asked curiously.

"Please don't call me 'man'. Just makes things awkward."

Will laughed. "Done." He offered Percy a hand, and pulled her up. The island was a lot closer. The ruins of the old spa looked almost sinister in the fading light.

The hull ground ashore. "Percy," I said in a low tone. The island was one of those places that made you want to whisper. "go below deck."

"Malcolm—" Percy began, but Irida held up her hand.

"Malcolm is right, Percy," She said, putting her hand on the other girl's shoulder, despite that fact she was older and taller. "Someone needs to watch over Annabeth, protect her if needed, and Circe could easily turn you against yourself." Percy opened her mouth again. "Also, I have a feeling she wasn't counting on you turning back to human. For one: we have got that element of surprise. Two: any comment Circe makes about you or Annabeth will make you mad. You will probably attack her then, and that is her endgame." Percy sighed.

"Fine. I'll be below." She turned to walk away, but Will stopped her.

"Take this," he said, and threw her a radio. "I got one so we could communicate."

"Won't that attract monsters?"

"We're in the Sea of Monsters. And I think we've killed all the monsters in a hundred mile radius **(about 161 kilometers for you metric people. *cough* anyone but Americans *cough)**."

She laughed. "Most likely. Be safe, guys."

Irida mock saluted. "Yes, ma'am,"

And with that, our questing quartet became a trio once more. We hopped onto the beach.

We trudged down a little path to a clearing. We could see the boat with Percy's face pressed in the window.

"Where is she, guys?" Percy's voice crackled over the radio. "Are you sure she'll be there?"

"We're sure, Percy," Will replied. The radio went to static, the only noise breaking through the nervous silence.

I stepped out from between Will and Irida.

"Circe!" I called in my loudest voice. I hoped to every god and goddess I could think of that it didn't quiver. "We're here! Come out from wherever you're hiding!"

A large bird flew down from a piece of rubble, and morphed into a woman with long brown hair. It was an eagle, I realized belatedly.

"Ahh, the little heroes." The woman, who I assumed was Circe, cooed. "I wondered when you'd come. You're cutting it quite close, eh?" The woman's voice was smooth and comforting. I shook my head.

"You know what we've come for, Circe." I said in a hard tone.

"Ah, heroes these days. Back in the years of Ancient Greece, I could sit and have a chat. Come, sit with me." Circe beckoned to the ground next to her.

Will and Irida jerked forward like marionettes on strings. I felt a pulling sensation in my gut, too, but I dug my heels in the sand. I grabbed my friends' arms. "Will, Irida, stop. It's a trap. She's charmspeaking you." They stopped the forward motion, and slid back diagonally behind me.

"Ahhh, you're a smart one, hero. A son of the great Athena, yes?" Circe nearly growled at me. Her nice smile was gone, replaced with a snarl.

"How—?" Will began, but was shushed.

"Shh, son of Apollo. Don't hide. Come out with your little friend, the daughter of Iris."

I stepped back to stand between my friends. Will's face was twisted in concentration, but Irida's was as hard as stone. She wasn't giving in to this lady, charmspeaking immortal sorceress or not.

"Circe, you know what we want and why we came here." I said firmly.

"Why of course, you want me to turn your friends back to normal."

"Yes."

"Well, how do I know as soon as I fix your friends, who I can only assume are hiding in that hideous boat over there, you won't attack me?" Circe said cooly.

"You have my word that neither me, nor Will, nor Irida, will attack you if you abide by our terms."

"Interesting," she pondered, "what are these terms you speak of?"

"A), You will turn Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase back to their normal teenage selves. No tricks. And B), You'll come with us, willingly, to Olympus."

"Now, why would I be foolish enough to do that?" She mocked.

I fidgeted. My hand was getting tired of holding down the call button on the radio. Percy could hear every word.

"Because you want to be recognized," I bluffed. "The Camp didn't just send us here to rescue Percy and Annabeth, they sent us for you, too." _Gods, I hope I'm right about her fatal flaw,_ I thought. "The goddesses of Olympus want to honor you for the work you've done, ridding the world of all the troublesome males that washed up on your shores. I heard a rumor that they want to make you a proper major Olympian goddess."

A slow smile crept across her face. "A proper Olympian goddess," she repeated.

"Although, they're only rumors. You'll never know if you don't come with us." I added, trying to rid any doubts she might've had. "Or if you don't turn our friends back to normal. They're quite favorable on Olympus."

I had caught her, hook, line, and sinker.

I saw the sun, nearly dipped below the horizon.

"Your friends, of course." She snapped her fingers, and a reddish glow emitted from the boat's window. "Do you swear by the Styx?" She asked uncertainly.

"Of course," I said confidently. "I swear by the River Styx that Will, Irida, and I will not harm you in any way if you abide by our terms."

Thunder boomed.

( _Percy's POV_ )

Over the radio, I could hear who I assumed was Circe snap her fingers. A reddish light filled the cabin. I could feel a weight being lifted off my shoulders. My nails and teeth, which had started to lengthen as sunset creeped closer, shrunk to normal size.

I saw Annabeth collapsed on the floor. There was something different…I didn't care. She was back, and safe. "Annabeth!" I cried, hugging her.

She grunted. "Who—?" I dropped her immediately.

"Annabeth?" I asked, tentatively. "Are you alright? Do you remember anything?"

"Who are you?" She asked again. Tears threatened the back of my eyes. I brushed a long lock of black hair out of my face. Oh, crap. I looked down. Gods dang it, I was still a girl. Oh, no, no, no. That meant…

I took my first, good look at Annabeth. It was what I feared: she was a guy. Rage boiled inside of me. But I kept my cool, for Annabeth's sake.

"Annabeth, it's me, Percy. You're—"

"Percy?!" She—well, he now—yelled. He quieted his voice. "Wait, why—?"

"I don't know what happened. It might be a side effect of Circe's magic." I grabbed his hands. "But, Annabeth, listen to me. She screwed with our genders—"

Annabeth bolted up. "No! No, you don't mean—" He ran into the bathroom.

"Annabeth!" I yelled, and followed him.

In the bathroom, Annabeth was pacing and running his hands through his hair. "No, no, no, no, no,"

"Annabeth," I said. He looked like he was hyperventilating. I grabbed his hands. "Annabeth, look at me. I'm here. I'm here. You're not alone. Breathe. Just breathe."

Annabeth's breaths calmed. "Percy?" He asked unsteadily.

"Yeah?"

He hugged me. "Thanks."

I hugged him back, but the hopelessness and worry in his voice made the rage in me boil over. I let go of Annabeth and strode to the other room. I grabbed my pen, Riptide, uncapped it, and ran out from under the boat.

( _Will's POV_ )

It was hard resisting Circe's magic. Harder than I could've expected. But, as Malcolm talked, the charmspeak in Circe's voice lessened. Circe was stepping closer. But then, I heard a loud yell. I turned around, and Percy came barreling past, her face red with anger.

When I whirled back around, Percy was steps away from the sorceress. _This is bad,_ I thought, _Percy's the best swordsman in camp._ Circe just looked annoyed. Percy swung. Circe tried to dodge, but the sword slash that would've normally chopped off the sorceress's head only cut her arm.

I reddish flash glowed from the boat. A loud wail broke through the night. Annabeth.

Percy was frozen in place by magic.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Circe mocked. "You shouldn't have done that, little heroine. You've only made things worse for you and your little friend." All the red rage disappeared from Percy's face, replaced by a mask of pale fear. "That's right, girl. You should've listened to you friends and stayed in the boat, hiding."

"Why didn't you turn them fully back to normal, Circe?" I called, somewhat bravely.

"Because gender is a delicate curse," Circe said, her voice cool with rage. "it's not like a light switch. You can't turn it back and forth." She was clutching her shoulder now. "If you'd waited two, three days, maybe a week, if I was grumpy, then your friends would be back to normal. The right gender, normal. But Percy here got mad and thought she could be a hero. Well, a heroine." Circe laughed cruelly, and put her face in Percy's. "But you came and attacked me, so here we are. You've only made things worse for yourself, Perseus Jackson. Oh, and your friend, what's her name? Annie Bell? Oh, whatever. See you next time, little girl." Circe disappeared in a golden flash. In her place was an eagle, soaring high in the air. The golden aura surrounded Percy for a few moments, then disappeared. Percy collapsed on the spot.

Malcolm looked conflicted. I could see he wanted to run to his older sister, but he didn't want to leave us alone. "Go!" I yelled. "Go get Annabeth!" Irida looked at me. "You, too!" She dashed towards the boat.

I grabbed Percy and slung her over my back like a sack of potatoes, then sprinted towards our boat.

On the boat, Irida helped me get the unconscious Percy over the rail. I laid her down on my cabin's bed, then called out: "Malcolm?"

"I'm in the extra cabin." Came the muffled reply.

When I raced in the extra cabin, my eyes did a double-take. Irida was sitting next to Malcolm, her arm around his shoulder. Malcolm's face was solemn, talking to a…a…a little boy. A mere baby.

"Malcolm…?" I asked slowly. "Who's…" he mouthed the answer the exact time the pieces in my brain clicked together. _Annabeth_. I sat down on the other side of Malcolm and put my arm on his shoulder, too.

Annabeth the baby shrunk away. "Hey there, Annabeth," I said in a gentle tone. "Do you remember me?"

He nodded slowly. "Where Percy?" _Of course,_ I thought, _he'd trust her more than anyone._

"She's over here." I said softly. I cocked my head at Malcolm as a sort of _May I_? Malcolm nodded, almost imperceptibly. "C'mon, I'll take you to her." Annabeth held out his hands, and I picked him up.

"I'll be back, Malcolm, alright?" I said softly, then walked out of the room, closing the door behind me.

When I entered my cabin, Percy was sitting up, looking around. She looked dazed.

"Hey, Will!" She said cheerfully. I could see her note the child in my arms. "Have you seen—" she stopped suddenly and buried her head in her hands. "This is my fault." She muttered.

I sat down next to her. "No, it's not your fault, Percy." I said. "Not even the tiniest bit. It was in the prophecy, and you know you couldn't have done anything but fulfill it. You cannot fight prophecies. It just makes everything worse."

"I know, I know. I've been dealing with these for years." She said, looking miserable.

"I sense a but coming."

"But, it was my actions that caused this. If I just stayed put, Annabeth and I could've been back to normal tomorrow, or the next day."

"Percy, you can't—"

She cut me off. "Can I hold him? Annabeth, I mean."

I transferred the baby from my arms to hers. She held the baby tight, hugging him fiercely. Percy yawned.

"Are you gonna go to bed?" I asked, halfway out the door.

"Yeah, probably. See you in the morning, Will."

"See ya, Percy."

I walked into my cabin, ready for sleep. As I crashed on the bed, a small, alert part of my brain wondered about the golden aura that surrounded Percy before she collapsed. _Whatever,_ the rest of my brain thought, _she's fine. Nothing to worry about._

And with that, I closed my eyes to sleep.

 **3,600! I told you peeps that there was gonna be an extra extra long chapter soon. I think this is my record.**

 **But is Percy _really_ okay? Hmmm...**

 **Next chaired is the last, but it's less than 400 words. Sorry. ️**

 **Peace out,**

 **—Alex**

* * *

 **Next time on Circe's Revenge:**

 **Then the world went black.**


	16. We Never Get a Break, Do We?

**Welcome, faithful readers, to my last chapter in Circe's Revenge!**

 **The chapter is excessively short, so there's most obviously a sequel.**

 **Can I just say: Poor Percy. Poor, poor, Percy.**

 **Please enjoy!**

 **—Alex**

( _Percy's POV_ )

I woke up with a start, the phantom pain disappearing as suddenly as I had woken up.

I didn't wake up because of dreams. No, they'd been quiet. Way too quiet. As in, I might've actually slept a decent sleep if I hadn't woken up every hour, on the dot.

I looked at the clock on my bedstand. It read two AM, meaning this was the fifth time I'd woken up like this.

I sat for a moment. There! There was the sensation I'd felt every hour since I fell asleep. Something felt off, or different in some way.

A sudden pain racked my body. Pressure was building, in my chest, my stomach, my arms, my legs. I curled up into a ball until the pain passed. When the pain vanished as soon as it came, I figured enough was enough.

I slid out of bed. _Woah_. The world spun. The clothes Irida lent me felt baggier than before, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember if they were baggy before. I struggled to make it to the cabin next door. I slumped against the frame and knocked weakly.

"Will?" I called out, and almost fell back. My voice sounded too high to be mine, even in my feminine state. My sleepy self just categorized it as just me not being used to my new voice. "Are you in there, Will?" My voice sounded raspy. "It's me, Percy."

The door opened to reveal a groggy-looking Will. The door I'd been leaning on had flown forward, and me with it.

I collapsed on Will's feet. My vision was swimming, but I could see Will's face dancing in and out, no longer looking groggy.

"Percy!" Will yelped in alarm. He bent down next to me, putting a hand on my arm, and winced. "Percy, what happened?" My vision started to darken. Will was shaking me. "No, Percy! Don't pass out!"

I heard footsteps thumping down the hall. Malcolm and Irida, I thought vaguely. I heard muffled, jumbled, but alarmed voices, and I felt hands picking me up off the ground. Then the world went black.

 **And that's it! My story is finished!**

 **Get ready for part two...**

 **See ya in my next story!**

 **Alex over and out.**


	17. Oopsies (again)

**This is not a chapter, and I'm terribly sorry about that.**

 **I posted this an hour ago, and the weird thing is with the computer commands happened again. Thanks to Potaaato for bringing that to my attention.**

 **But, this needed to be said: This story is finished, and I'm working on the second one now.**

 **Also, I figured out that the poll I tried to post wasn't on my profile, so I had to do something that put it there...**

 **Do I have anything else to say?...no, no I don't.**

 **Just saying: I don't know when I'll publish my next story.  
**

 **See you soon, readers!**

 **—Alex**


End file.
